School Improvement Plan
Liberty High School
School Improvement Plan
2021-22
A School Improvement Plan (SIP) ...
- Is developed according to the Washington Administrative Code 180-16-220
- Shows evidence of annual school board approval
- Includes information that staff certification requirements were met
- Includes evidence the plan is based on self-review and participation of required participants
- Considers a collection of data over time that is analyzed to determine the focus of the plan
- Promotes continuous improvement in student achievement in state learning standards
- Recognizes non-academic student learning, what, and how
- Addresses the characteristics of highly successful schools
- Is led by the principal and the building’s Leadership Team
- Requires collaboration with the school staff and district administration
- Addresses equity (e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, culture, language and physical/mental ability)
- Has action plans that are based on best practice as identified by quality research
- Is a continuous process that requires ongoing monitoring and adjustment
- Addresses the use of technology to facilitate instruction
- Addresses parent, family and community involvement
Characteristics of Successful Schools
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction identifies the following nine characteristics of successful schools:
- clear and shared focus
- high standards and expectations for all students
- effective school leadership
- high levels of collaboration and communication
- curriculum, instruction, and assessments aligned with state standards
- frequent monitoring of learning and teaching
- focused professional development
- supportive learning environment
- high levels of family and community involvement
SIP Planning
START DATE: Fall 2021
SITE COUNCIL REVIEW DATE: N/A
SCHOOL BOARD REVIEW DATE: March 30, 2022
PRINCIPAL: Sean Martin
LEADERSHIP TEAM:
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Sean Martin, Principal
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Erin Armstrong, Assistant Principal
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Andrew Brownson, Assistant Principal
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Loren Krogstad, Assistant Principal
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Wes Benjamin, CTE Department Chair
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Amy Cooke, Social Studies Department Chair
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Tod Oney, Graduation Specialist
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Jared Tanner, Music Department Chair
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Eleonor Schneider, Science Department Chair
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Andrea Noon, World Languages Department Chair
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Robin Klym, Counseling Department Chair
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Sherry Leake, Math Department Chair
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Henry Level, English Department Chair
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Sheryl Ostrander, Special Education Department Chair
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Annie Cooper, Art Department Chair
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Darren Tremblay, PE Department Chair
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Michelle Munson, Activity Coordinator/Leadership
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JoAnn Olsson, Librarian
Staff and demographic information are available for each school at the OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) School Report Card Home.
- Re-Engagement & Recovery
- Data Study
- Achievement Goals & Actions
- Supporting & Monitoring School Improvement
Re-Engagement & Recovery
This section of the School Improvement Plan describes the strategies this school used to identify and address the social-emotional and academic needs for students to successfully re-engage in the learning community and their learning path.
- How did your school identify students who may have difficulty re-engaging in the learning community or may have social-emotional or mental health wellness needs?
- What strategies did your school employ to re-engage students and address wellness needs?
- How did your school identify pre-requisite skill gaps that might prevent a student from successfully accessing grade-level or course-appropriate learning?
How did your school identify students who may have difficulty re-engaging in the learning community or may have social-emotional or mental health wellness needs?
Liberty High School utilized a range of screening strategies to determine the level and scope of need for students in the areas of academic learning, social and emotional health, and mental health.
Academic Learning Needs:
- Examined the rate of F grades, by student and by subject/course at each grading period, and for the 2020-2021 school year.
- Comparison of D and F grades to prior years at each of those grading periods. Seeing the D/F rate at a given point in the school year is instructive since it may reflect how things fluctuate in the course of a typical school year. F grades tend to decrease between Q1 and the end of Semester 1, for instance, as students settle into their courses, access academic supports, and take advantage of opportunities to improve their grades.
- The Liberty Tier 2 Team brought specific focus to the students most in need of intervention, and allowed our Tier 2 Team, consisting of Admin, Counselors, Special Education representatives, and our Graduation Specialist, to look closely at the case of specific students who had reached the academic threshold to qualify for Tier 2 academic support.
Social and Emotional Health, Mental Health:
- Examination of SDQ Survey results for the 2020-2021 School Year, and also for the Fall of 2022.
- Counselors conduct check-ins with students, working through their case load by grade level, and also by need. Through these conversations, McKinney-Vento Interviews, 504 Reviews, Hi-Cap conversations, parent communication and meetings, and student drop-in appointments, Counselors are able to identify both specific individual needs for Social, Emotional, and Mental Health, and also trends and larger building-wide areas of need and concern.
- Teachers, through SEL components to their teaching, and in the teaching of their courses, get to know students and their needs, and communicate these to Admin and Counseling. In addition, teachers provide a direct positive relationship and support for students and shape the teaching of their class to meet the need that has presented itself.
- Administrators, in the conduct of their duties and addressing of behavior, work to identify the root causes of behavior. Often, these behaviors are driven by needs in the areas of social and emotional health, mental health, and other unmet needs. These are also expressed and identified in the communication and interactions with families.
What strategies did your school employ to re-engage students and address wellness needs?
Academic Re-engagement:
- Close examination of course placement, distribution of academic support courses, and consistent monitoring of academic performance to determine if these course and support course placements continue to be appropriate.
- Conducting timely and thorough review of 504 re-evaluations, initial evaluations, and consideration. We found a significant shift in the academic needs experienced by students, and how these needs can be met through a 504 or other supports. Students have shown a greater need for support in coping with organizational and completion of tasks, with meeting and navigating deadlines and time constraints, and with retaining and implementing new learning, in particular.
- Courses have been adjusted and redesigned through the lens of Essential Learnings. This process began for the 2020-2021 school year, when we conducted instruction through remote and hybrid modalities, and it was necessary for us to continue this re-evaluation and re-examination process for the 2021-2022 school year. This was driven by:
- A recognition that student learning in the 2020-2021 school year was not at the depth, retention level, and accountability level that it would be in a typical school year. Students came into the 2021-2022 school year with significant gaps in learning and understanding, in comparison to the same course in prior years. Teachers recognized and adapted to the reality that students needed to be taught material from the course they had taken in the previous year. This necessitated that they adjust, trim, rearrange, and condense the material from the current year course.
- Recognition that student academic endurance had been negatively impacted by the remote and hybrid modalities of the 2020-2021 school year. This is apparent in the setting of a class period, throughout a school day, and over the course of a school semester/year. For much of last year, students had access to other devices, to food, and other freedoms and choice activities throughout the day and period, whereas now we are back to a full and structured class period, school day, and academic year. In addition, with COVID protocols eliminating the option to eat outside of the set lunch time, students have struggled with maintaining focus throughout the full class period.
- A reflective and professional growth process in line with the focus of the ISD Teaching and Learning Department around rethinking our course Scope and Sequence guidelines, our homework and grading practices, and our instructional priorities in teaching. The disruption of the last 18-24 months has provided and forced an opportunity to rethink our practice, to adjust, and to shift to stronger and more efficient teaching practices that focus upon student learning and the application and ownership of that learning.
Addressing Wellness Needs:
- Counselors and Administrators have been responsive to student and family requests for informal accommodations, for schedule adjustments, and for intervention and support services. Many students have reported feeling overwhelmed, reported feelings and diagnoses of anxiety, and as a result have expressed the need for adjustments and changes in their school day and course load. Our Counseling and Administrative team have taken an approach of compassion and adjustment to work to meet these needs, and to find ways to address the concerns of the student and family in any way possible.
- Counselors and Administrators have also offered and implemented wellness interventions and plans, such as offering scheduled breaks during class periods, support locations such as the Counseling Office if a student begins to feel overwhelmed, and teaching stress and anxiety management strategies for the student and teacher to implement in order to help the student to work through an episode of anxiety, for instance.
- We have again contracted with the consulting group Relevant Engagement, LLC, which is led by Rashad Norris and Professor Michael Tuncap. We have worked with Mr. Norris for several years, and he has proven to be a very powerful and positive resource for our students of color. The Relevant Engagement group provides weekly intervention meetings for students of color, and also some individual mentoring meetings. There are two group sessions each Monday, one is funded in partnership with DVR, and provides support for students who have 504 or IEP support. The second group is for any student who has expressed interest, or who has been recommended by a teacher, Counselor, parent, or who has expressed interest themselves. This is an empowering and positive group session designed to provide skills, instill confidence, and provide positive mentoring and support for all students of color. In addition, two Liberty High School teachers who are Latina have expressed interest in starting a group for female students of color, based on the model employed by Relevant Engagement, and we are working together to set that up.
- In cooperation with Special Services, we continue to work with the Brooks-Powers Group and other agencies to provide additional support for our students with disabilities in the areas of behavior, as well as social and emotional areas.
How did your school identify pre-requisite skill gaps that might prevent a student from successfully accessing grade-level or course-appropriate learning?
Course Placement and Scheduling:
- One key point of identification of skill gaps and potential barriers to success takes place during our Course Request Process and Scheduling, which occurs in April and May. This was particularly important at the end of the 2020-2021 school year as we prepared to head back to full in-person learning in the 2021-2022 school year. We incorporate several components to helping students to have an appropriate schedule which meets their needs and sets them up to accomplish their goals:
- Communication and information: Through a video presentation produced by our Counseling Department, information on the Counseling web site and the Online Course Guide, and information packets distributed to students physically and electronically, we provide students and families with guidelines and information to help them to make the best Course Requests for the student and family. Included in this information is a graduation planning guide, which lays out the requirements and available class periods that each student and grade level have available to them.
- Teacher recommendation: Teachers in all core academic departments advise students in their classes on what each course offering within that department entails. In addition, each department looks at the courses requested for advanced/AP courses, support classes, and other courses to see if the current teacher would advise a different course for any particular student. Students who are identified as having a different course recommended for them are contacted by their Counselor to discuss this possibility.
- Support classes, such as Lab classes for Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2, as well as Improving Literacy Skills (ILS) classes in the English department, are recommended for students based upon prior grades, test scores, and teacher recommendation.
Initial Assessments and Adjustments:
- Within the first weeks of the 2021-2022 school year, teachers conducted initial activities and assessments, graded assignments, and conducted formative and summative assessment of student understanding. This information provided teachers with essential information on student understanding, what they had learned and retained from the prior year, academic learning needs, and readiness for the current course. With this information, teachers were able to:
- Provide Counselors and Admin with feedback and recommendations for students, such as consideration of a support class, recommendation of other academic support such as after school tutoring through ISF, and also observations of student overall learning needs that could be helpful across a student’s full schedule.
- Teachers were able gauge the appropriateness of the current course for students, and to recommend potential consideration of other course levels to meet the student need.
- As mentioned in the section above, teachers are also adjusting the courses as a whole, through the implementation of Essential Learnings as a guideline for the course content. These adjustments are made with the learning of students at the core, and through observation of the reality of student need, further adjustments to the Essential Learnings of the courses were made by teaching staff.
Data Study
This section of the School Improvement Plan describes the use and study of student achievement data to inform SIP goals and to set learning targets to address systemic disproportionality. Targets to address disproportionality are in reference to state Smarter Balanced Assessments using the Washington School Improvement Framework (WSIF), per state regulation. The most current WSIF available dates to 2019 due to the cancelation of recent state assessments. This WSIF provides a pre-pandemic baseline. Additional data available since the re-opening of schools is added to provide more current data for school improvement planning.
Washington School Improvement Framework
|
All Students |
American Indian/ Alaskan Native |
Asian |
Black / African American |
English Language Learners |
Hispanic / Latino of any Race(s) |
Low Income |
Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander |
Students with Disabilities |
Two or More Races |
White |
ELA Proficiency Rate |
90.6% |
|
90.4% |
82.1% |
33.3% |
83.0% |
72.9% |
|
41.9% |
91.8% |
92.0% |
Math Proficiency Rate |
46.5% |
|
64.4% |
17.9% |
20.7% |
29.5% |
28.0% |
|
12.8% |
39.0% |
45.3% |
Graduation Rate |
90.5% |
|
97.1% |
85.7% |
81.0% |
84.0% |
78.1% |
|
72.2% |
83.3% |
90.5% |
EL Progress Rate* |
58.9% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Regular Attendance Rate |
82.1% |
|
91.9% |
71.0% |
79.8% |
74.2% |
67.5% |
|
70.1% |
83.8% |
80.4% |
Ninth Grade On Track Rate |
87.7% |
|
96.1% |
70.8% |
75.7% |
74.4% |
68.6% |
|
81.5% |
84.1% |
88.3% |
Dual Credit Rate |
81.7% |
|
89.8% |
70.0% |
62.0% |
74.2% |
66.7% |
|
50.3% |
79.6% |
80.9% |
*The EL Progress measure only applies to students who are English Learners
0
10
The fall 2021 attendance rate is a measure of average percent of classes attended by subgroup.
The WSIF Regular Attendance Rate is the percent of students who had less than two absences per month.
Graduation Rate
LHS |
% On-time Adjusted |
% Extended Adjusted |
Class of 2016 |
89.4 |
91.7 |
Class of 2017 |
90.5 |
92.2 |
Class of 2018 |
88.9 |
90.2 |
Class of 2019 |
92.9 |
94.9 |
Class of 2020 |
96.6 |
|
Fall Percent of Classes Attended through 10/21/21
Subgroups |
% of classes attended |
Asian |
96.3 |
Black / African American |
88.1 |
Latinx |
88.3 |
Two or more races |
92.6 |
White |
92.3 |
ELL |
86.1 |
Students with Disabilities |
87.6 |
The fall 2021 attendance rate is a measure of average percent of classes attended by subgroup.
The WSIF Regular Attendance Rate is the percent of students who had less than two absences per month.
Incompletes / NC Rates (includes only subgroups with N>10)
Demographics (2021-22) |
Spring 2020 Incompletes |
Spring 2020 Incompletes Percent |
Fall 2020 NC |
Fall 2020 NC Percent |
Spring 2021 NC |
Spring 2021 NC Percent |
|
Total |
|
217 |
|
685 |
|
886 |
|
Asian |
24.0% |
11 |
5.1% |
35 |
5.1% |
72 |
8.1% |
Black/African American |
2.0% |
10 |
4.6% |
32 |
4.7% |
24 |
2.7% |
Hispanic / Latino of any race(s) |
11.4% |
81 |
37.3% |
195 |
28.5% |
282 |
31.8% |
Two or More Races |
7.9% |
33 |
15.2% |
71 |
10.4% |
78 |
8.8% |
White |
54.3% |
79 |
36.4% |
342 |
49.9% |
419 |
47.3% |
ELL |
3.0% |
12 |
5.5% |
51 |
7.4% |
52 |
5.9% |
IEP |
10.0% |
63 |
29.0% |
125 |
18.2% |
137 |
15.5% |
Data Study
- Describe your SIP team process for studying school-wide, disaggregated data and selecting SIP goals.
- Describe your observations regarding disproportionality that informed your SIP gap goal(s).
Describe your SIP team process for studying school-wide, disaggregated data and selecting SIP goals.
The data was shared with our SIP team for examination and discussion. We explored this data beginning with the big picture of the school-wide data in each category (Math, ELA, Graduation, Attendance, and NC/Credit Deficiency). We then looked at each of these categories as disaggregated, to see which data showed disproportionality, what was surprising or different than expected, and discussed. Finally, we took this information and our concerns and explored where to place our goal emphasis. While Math is an area of interest and concern, and is something that we will be working with and closely monitoring, we elected to continue with NC and Credit Deficiency, which leads directly to the graduation rate.
Describe your observations regarding disproportionality that informed your SIP gap goal(s).
Our SIP gap goals center around NC and Graduation Rate for students who are Hispanic/Latino of Any Race. We chose this because this subgroup of students is also frequently represented in our ELL and Low Income data, and also because this group of students currently makes up 11.4% of our student population, according to the OSPI Report Card. This is a substantial component of our student population. Students in the Hispanic/Latino of Any Race have a Graduation Rate of 84.0%, as shown in the chart below, which is substantially below the 90.5% overall rate. Far more concerning is the current NC rate, which will soon be represented in the Graduation Rate data as these students matriculate through the system. Our subgroup of Hispanic/Latino of Any Race had a Disproportionality Ratio of 2.8 in the Spring of 2021, which is by far the highest Ratio of any large, non-suppressed group.
Disproportionality Targets
Identify targets for each Washington School Improvement Framework subgroup for which you have baseline data. Baseline for group sizes of less than 20 are suppressed in public documents, targets are set for all groups.
ELA Proficiency Rate
Group |
2017-19 WSIF Baseline |
2022 Target |
All Students (for comparison) |
90.6 |
--------------------------- |
Black / African American |
82.1 |
85.0 |
English Language Learners |
33.3 |
45.0 |
Hispanic/Latino of any race |
83.0 |
86.0 |
Low Income |
72.9 |
76.0 |
Students with Disabilities |
41.9 |
50.0 |
Math Proficiency Rate
Group |
2017-19 WSIF Baseline |
2022 Target |
All Students (for comparison) |
46.5 |
--------------------------- |
Black / African American |
17.9 |
30.0 |
English Language Learners |
20.7 |
28.0 |
Hispanic/Latino of any race |
29.5 |
37.0 |
Low Income |
28.0 |
36.0 |
Students with Disabilities |
12.8 |
25.0 |
Regular Attendance Rate
Group |
2017-19 WSIF Baseline |
2022 Target |
All Students (for comparison) |
82.1 |
--------------------------- |
Black / African American |
71.0 |
78.0 |
English Language Learners |
79.8 |
83.0 |
Hispanic/Latino of any race |
74.2 |
80.0 |
Low Income |
67.5 |
75.0 |
Students with Disabilities |
70.1 |
77.0 |
Graduation Rate (HS only)
Group |
2017-19 WSIF Baseline |
2022 Target |
All Students (for comparison) |
90.5 |
--------------------------- |
Black / African American |
85.7 |
88.7 |
English Language Learners |
81.0 |
84.0 |
Hispanic/Latino of any race |
84.0 |
87.0 |
Low Income |
78.1 |
81.1 |
Students with Disabilities |
72.2 |
75.2 |
Achievement Goals & Actions
This section of the School Improvement Plan describes the setting of a specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and timely (SMART) school-wide achievement goal(s).
School-Wide Goal(s)
By the spring of 2023, to achieve a Liberty High School graduation rate of 94%. While the graduation rate for Liberty High School in 2020 was 96.6% during a highly disrupted year, our previous rate was in 2019 at 92.9%. Consistently being at 94% and above will demonstrate that we have addressed the underlying concerns with Credit Deficiency.
Action Steps. What research-based strategies will be implemented to achieve school-wide goals?
Our approach to accomplish this will focus upon three key areas:
- Continuous growth and development in our approach to Homework, Grading, and Assessment in our courses. By providing multiple opportunities to demonstrate learning, assessing student learning in a wider range of ways, and offering students a wider range of options for how they demonstrate mastery of content and apply their learning.
- Offering Credit Recovery opportunities, including course-specific Credit Retrieval, Summer School, etc.
- Academic interventions to support student learning in the classroom. Through the implementation of specific strategies to address individual student needs, in addition to teacher use of GLAD teaching strategies, interactive and student-centered instructional options to benefit the full class, all students will be exposed to a more accessible and supported approach to learning.
Gap Closing Goal(s)
By the end of the 2021-2022 school year, to reduce the Disproportionality Ratio for students receiving F/NC grades for students in the Hispanic / Latino of Any Race subgroup from 2.8 to 1.0 or lower. As a result of students accruing more credit, this will also decrease the gap in on-time Graduation Rate. By the end of the 2021-2022 school year, our goal is also to raise the on-time Graduation Rate for students in the Hispanic / Latino of Any Race subgroup from 84.0 to 87.0.
- Action Steps. What additional research-based strategies will be implemented to achieve gap-closing goal?
- Approach to gap-closing. How will your action steps address disproportionality?
Action Steps. What additional research-based strategies will be implemented to achieve gap-closing goal?
- All students of color, including students in this subgroup, will be invited to mentorship group sessions with Relevant Engagement, led by Rashad Norris and Professor Michael Tuncap. These sessions provide students with mentoring and guidance as young people from culturally diverse backgrounds and instills confidence and skills to help them to succeed, to be resilient, and to have a strong and positive connection with an adult mentor. Through this program, our goal is for students to develop a positive self-concept, and a strong and engaging connection with school and with their own academic future.
- The Liberty High School Tier 2 team identifies students with significant academic challenges and develops intervention strategies specific to each student. This includes staff follow-up, accountability for the student, family involvement, and intentionally designed interventions to meet the needs of the student. While the Tier 2 team is intended to identify needs of students from any group with academic need, the students in this subgroup will be included in this, and they make up such a large percentage of the NC/F students, and those with current academic challenges, this will be an effective way to identify need, provide support, and track progress.
- Our Student Recognition Program, Patriot PATs, celebrates students who demonstrate Liberty High School’s mission of Pursuing Excellence, Acting with Integrity, and Taking Care of Each Other. This year, we have recognized 113 students, across all grade levels and representing all racial groups. We are targeting this program to celebrate and encourage students, and to share this celebration with their families. This positive reinforcement of the key PBSES ideas listed above is key to helping Liberty High School to be a positive and supportive environment for all students.
Approach to gap-closing. How will your action steps address disproportionality?
We have found that a key element in student academic success is the development of strong and positive personal connections with trusted adults who hold the student accountable, provide support and guidance, and offer resources as needed. Also, the guidance and specific itemization and prioritization of the work to be done, which is a part of the intervention utilized by the Tier 2 team, helps to make academic work less overwhelming, and gives a student a stronger sense of ownership and control over what they are learning, why they are learning it, and what they need to do in order to be successful. Finally, through the incorporation of Relevant Engagement, we are working to instill confidence, pride, strong self-concept, and positive personal connections to a student’s personal identity, and their future. All of this provides students with the confidence, skills, and resources to step forward with strength, resilience, and confidence.
Supporting & Monitoring School Improvement
This section describes the supports and monitoring of school improvement plan efforts.
- Professional Development. What professional learning activities will be needed to support the successful implementation?
- Resources Available. What existing and new resources will be used to accomplish the activity?
- Technology. How is technology being used to facilitate instruction?
- Family Engagement. How will you inform and engage families regarding your SIP goal(s)?
- Monitoring Effectiveness. What on-going artifacts or evidence will be gathered to show this activity is making a difference in student learning?
Professional Development. What professional learning activities will be needed to support the successful implementation?
-
As teachers work through Essential Learnings in each course, and explore multiple opportunities to assess students, and for students to demonstrate and apply their learning, students who may have not had the same level of success as their peers in a traditional school structure will have a wider range of opportunities to learn, and to apply and demonstrate this learning.
-
Relevant Engagement provides staff training, regarding how to work with students from various cultural, racial, and linguistic backgrounds. We have had one staff meeting session with them already, and will have additional training later in the year.
-
Our ELL teacher, Andrea Antrim, provides staff training and shares effective tools and strategies at each staff meeting. Many of the students in this subgroup are also served through ELL, and this will provide additional support for them.
-
Our GLAD Specialist on staff, Zarah Matsuda, provides regular staff training at staff meetings, and updates to staff email, regarding tools and strategies which are based in the GLAD system of instruction. This provides instructional support for all students, and particularly those in need of academic support.
Resources Available. What existing and new resources will be used to accomplish the activity?
Technology. How is technology being used to facilitate instruction?
-
Several of the strategies shared by TLS, our GLAD Specialist, our Educational Technology Lead, our ELL teacher, and others are centered around the technology tools available to teachers to use in their instruction.
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Laptops and Hot Spots are available to students in financial need, allowing all students access to their learning.
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The use of Canvas as a learning platform, and as a gradebook platform, allows students to have access to current grades, to all assignments from the semester, and to access electronic resources within the assignment.
Family Engagement. How will you inform and engage families regarding your SIP goal(s)?
-
Communication with families is key to the success of this goal, and to the academic success of students. The Tier 2 Team incorporates communication and partnership with families, and works to build a strong connection and relationship between families and the school.
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For families for whom language is a barrier, we regularly use Alboum Translation Services, as well as Language Line, to ensure families are able to communicate and understand in the language with which they are most comfortable.
Monitoring Effectiveness. What on-going artifacts or evidence will be gathered to show this activity is making a difference in student learning?
-
Checks and monitoring will take place at each grading period, utilizing the data posted to official Skyward reports at grading periods (MT 1, Q1, MT 2, S1, MT 3, Q3, MT 4, S2).
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Throughout the year, in an ongoing fashion, grades are monitored through Canvas and Homeroom. The ISD Educational Technology Department is developing a new tool that will allow us to generate reports out of Canvas into Excel for our Tier 2 team. This will make grade checks much easier, and will provide real time updates on student academic progress. Liberty High School is the pilot school for this program.