DSES Strategic Plan Narrativeschool.fultonschools.org/es/dunwoodysprings/SGC Documents... · Web...

DUNWOODY SPRINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

STRATEGIC PLAN SY 2014/15 – SY 2016/17

APPROVED JULY 2014

DUNWOODY SPRINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL | Strategic Plan SY 2014/15 – 2016/17

SECTION I: Strategic Planning Background and Approach

This section is a brief (5-7 paragraphs) narrative providing the reader with a summary of the purpose, process, people, and timeline of the strategic planning process. Content has been provided for your use in this section, though schools may revise this as they need or wish to.

In May 2012, the Georgia Board of Education voted to make Fulton County Schools the state’s largest charter system. The Charter System Model offers freedom and flexibility, both at the school level and system-wide, to employ research-based methods to improve student achievement, even if such innovations would require exemptions to current state laws and regulations.

Given the new Charter System framework, individual schools within Fulton County have the ability to work in dramatically new ways. We are asking our communities to help drive change and to get involved in our schools. Our collective vision is that every Fulton County school will have a principal and local School Governance Council equipped to effectively lead in a charter system environment to improve student achievement through innovation and flexibility. Schools will be empowered to consider the best uses of resources at the local level and design innovative practices that align with school needs.

Dunwoody Springs Elementary School began the strategic planning process in the spring of 2014. In order to plan our strategic direction forward, we first had to engage with our community to understand our specific challenges and consider a path to collectively address them.

Our process included five distinct phases: (1) a needs assessment; (2) the identification of priority issues; (3) the establishment of long-term outcomes, focus areas, & short-term goals; (4) the formulation of strategic initiative; and (5) the development of a monitoring plan. Developed over a period of several months and designed collaboratively with input and guidance from many stakeholders, the strategic plan represents our deliberate approach to shape and guide what Dunwoody Springs Elementary School is, what we do, and why. Our students deserve the best educational experience we can provide, and this plan sets our vision and direction for making that happen.

As a council, we committed to the development of our strategic plan to move Dunwoody Springs in a direction that would impact our stakeholders and most valuable assets, our students. It was crucial that we created a plan that was tailored to meet the needs of our students, fortified our areas of strength and increased opportunities to continuously improve. At our August 12th meeting, our council reviewed the Strategic Plan Overview. Our intention was to share and clarify the alignment of the long-term outcomes, focus areas, and short-term goals. This facilitated useful dialogue to fine-tune our long-term outcomes, focus areas, and short-term goals, which yielded successful results and the formation of an ad hoc committee to further research calendar options. We reviewed our overview and narrative at our August 25, 2014 governance council meeting and voted to accept both documents for submittal on August 29, 2014.

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Dunwoody Springs School Governance Council

2013-2014

Principal: Ivy FreemanChair: Jennifer HawkinsSecretary: Leonor Diaz

Position Class of 2015 Class of 2016Parent/Guardian Jennifer Hawkins Mellie O’Keefe/ Michelle SimpsonTeacher Anthy Baracos Jessica BennettAppointed Staff Patrice Dawkins-Jackson Niki CosmaCommunity Members Richard Miller, J.D. Kaye Morgan-Curtis

Contact List:Name Email Phone NumberIvy Freeman - non-voting Principal [email protected] 770-673-4060

Jennifer Hawkins – 1 yr – Elected Parent

[email protected] 678-921-9678 / 678-925-1292

Anthy Baracos – 1 yr – Elected Teacher

[email protected] 770-673-4060 / 404-272-4301

Patrice Dawkins-Jackson – 1 Year Appointed Staff

[email protected] 770-673-4060 / 404-414-5066

Richard Miller, J.D.- 1 year Appointed Community Member

[email protected] 770-437-4050 / 678-777-7750

Mellie O’Keefe – 2 year Elected Parent

[email protected] 770-698-8386 / 404-667-3686

Michelle Simpson – 2 year Elected Parent

[email protected] 404-532-9646/404-220-9940

Niki Cosma – 2 year Appointed Staff

[email protected] 770-673-4060 / 678-294-1303

Kaye Morgan-Curtis – 2 year Appointed Community Member

[email protected] 770-418-7672

Jessica Bennett – 2 year Elected Teacher

bennettJ.fultonschools.org 678-622-0883

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mailto:[email protected]










SECTION II: Context for the Strategic Plan: The School’s Needs Assessment

This section should present the results of the school’s organizational assessment and environmental scan. Rather than list every detail and finding from these exercises, this section should focus on the highlights of the school’s external and internal environments that informed the strategic planning process. Content has been provided for your use in this section, though schools may revise this as they need or wish to.

For every school, the strategic planning process must begin with a thorough consideration of the questions “Where are we as a school?” and “With what do we have to work?” By identifying strengths and weaknesses within the school and examining opportunities and challenges within the external environment, schools lay the foundation for building a strategic plan that builds on their positive attributes while overcoming any weaknesses or areas for improvement.

Dunwoody Springs Elementary School began the strategic planning process by conducting a needs assessment. Through a close analysis of the internal and external environments, we sought to identify stakeholders’ perceptions of our school and enhance our understanding of the political, socio-economic, and demographic environment in which the school operates. By analyzing a comprehensive set of school data and reviewing school-based surveys and external school reviews, the leaders of Dunwoody Springs Elementary School clarified performance trends and identified the school’s most critical areas for improvement.

Needs Assessment – Process & Summary of Findings

Conducting the needs assessment was a rewarding and informative experience. Throughout this process, we were deliberate in engaging our students, teachers, staff, parents, realtors and community. Various methods were used to solicit feedback from our multiple stakeholder groups. We have included the methods, descriptions and key findings from the needs assessment that assisted in the development of our strategic plan.

Internal Environment

As a council, we understood the importance of providing multiple opportunities to receive feedback from our teachers, staff and students. The ERS SchoolCheck needs assessment tool was given to our School Improvement and Administrative Teams. These bodies represent each grade level, interrelated arts, non-certified staff and our administration. After compiling the responses, we were able to identify strengths and areas of improvement. This stakeholder group felt that our strengths include the following: expert teachers are assigned to highest priority areas, expectations for behavior and consistent routines promote positive school-wide culture and structures exist to ensure students feel connected to their school and learning community. On the contrary, this group felt that (1) students need more individualized attention and targeted support, (2) teachers need sufficient time and support to ensure the delivery of quality instruction and (3) teachers want improved, targeted resources for higher priorities as areas for improvement.

Our staff was asked to complete a survey via Survey Monkey. The data gathered presented us with recurring ideas such as project-based learning, more collaborative planning time, flexibility in scheduling, variety of assessments, utilization of technology, curriculum integration, increased experiential learning opportunities for our students and parent/community involvement and engagement. This valuable feedback helped to guide our

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next step in synthesizing the data. The SUG Method was utilized next, which included a tool used by our School Governance Council and School Improvement Team. Approximately thirty ideas were generated from the survey data collected. Our School Improvement Team assigned the numbers 1,2,or 3 for each idea’s seriousness (S), urgency (U) and growth potential (G). The totals for each idea were calculated and assisted us in creating our final method of garnering feedback from our staff.

A lesson learned from the panel of Cohort 1 principals was to ensure that the entire staff is engaged in the strategic planning process. To ensure that this took place, our staff participated in a Dotmocracy activity. This is an efficient process used to consolidate a large number of ideas based on similarity and/or priority. Our staff members were given three dot stickers and were asked to place their dots on ideas they felt were the top priorities for our school. In this process, we were able to narrow our focus to the following ideas: more planning time, project-based learning/catering to interest/learning styles, year round school calendar, flexibility with scheduling and incorporating the interrelated arts.

Our teachers and staff are a very significant stakeholder group. However, the voice of our students is critical. Our principal conducted three focus groups with different student bodies. The first group was all of our 5 th grade students. The second group was our Safety Patrols and Student Leadership Team. The third group was students with chronic disciplinary infractions. Overall, the students shared that they would like more opportunities to have input on how they learn. They also expressed a desire to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways and have more experiences that connect them to the school community.

External Environment

We approached our external stakeholders with the same vigor as our internal stakeholders. Various methods of outreach were used to gain feedback from our parents, community, local government and realtors. Historically, we have not received the participation that we would like from our parent community. After several discussions with our staff and council, we agreed that we would need to be creative in engaging our parents. We used multiple means of obtaining feedback from parents. We conducted a Gallery Walk, prior to a scheduled “Student of the Month” awards ceremony to capture the opinion of parents whom we otherwise may not be able to connect with at school. For this activity, we used large posters and put a question on each of them. Prior to the” Student of the Month” ceremony, we invited the parents to cycle through the room answering questions on the posters. This method was very effective. We were able to gain feedback from the parents about what they wanted to see at our school, which included more hands-on learning experiences, field trips, utilization and access to technology, cultural arts and enrichment.

Parents also had additional options to provide us with feedback for our needs assessment. We used our school newsletters, teacher and PTA email blasts, robo-call system, Twitter and Facebook to share the Survey Monkey with our parents. To reach parents of ELL students, ELL staff members personally called parents speaking to them in their native language to convey the importance of completing the translated version of the survey. The outcome was astounding. We received approximately 85% of those surveys. The responses were very similar to feedback shared during the Gallery Walk. ELL parents were complimentary of our teachers, touting their extensive efforts to meet all students’ needs. Also in an effort to accommodate our parents, we conducted two focus groups, one in the morning and one in the evening. We discussed different innovations in education as well as parents’ vision for our school under the system charter.

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To engage our community and local government, we also took several approaches. We sent surveys, conducted interviews and gave presentations. We used Survey Monkey to get feedback from community members who do not have children at our school. We connected with surrounding HOAs to disseminate the survey. We also provided hardcopies of the survey to realtors after a presentation about our school. Information was shared with non-profit organizations including Leadership Sandy Springs, Sandy Springs Rotary Club, Sandy Springs Education Force and Sandy Springs Council member, Jon Paulsen. While the efforts were well-planned, they provided us with more information than feedback.

These varied efforts to solicit input from all stakeholder resulted in the shaping of our strategic plan. We would have liked to have received more input from parents, but feel that we exhausted our efforts to do so and agreed to move forward. We believe that our plans for increased hands-on learning and allowing students to showcase and present their work in a variety of ways through project based learning, will help us to increase parental involvement at our school. The document on the following page will show the main components of our plan.

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SECTION III: Long-term Outcomes

This section should define the school’s 3-5 Long-term Outcomes, and, for each Long-term Outcome, provide a brief rationale that explains the reason for prioritizing the Outcome. Additionally, each Long-term Outcome should have 1 or more associated measures and annual targets by which the success of the Outcome will be assessed.

LONG-TERM OUTCOME 1. Increase student achievement across all subject areas at all levels

Reflecting on initiatives we already have in place, we want to continue to increase student achievement. Based on our Needs Assessment, we decided that we want to be more intentional in our approaches to achieve this goal. We reviewed our student data to assist in creating this Long-term outcome. “At all levels” was deliberately added to the statement because we want to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all students regardless of their ability.

Associated Measures and Annual Targets to be identified at a later date.

LONG-TERM OUTCOME 2. Increase student engagement, critical thinking and creativity to enhance learning in all academic areas

We carefully examined our stakeholder feedback to arrive at this goal. Our students voiced their desire to have more involvement in how they learn content. They also expressed a preference for demonstrating their knowledge in various ways. Our parents want an instructional environment that fostered critical thinking, creativity and individuality. Teachers stated that they want to create learning experiences which would increase student engagement, creativity and critical thinking. This Long-term outcome we created encompasses the desires of these stakeholders and our governance council.


LONG-TERM OUTCOME 3. Enhance student learning in a global society through application of knowledge and community involvement

We recognize that our students need a variety of learning experiences to be successful in our global society. Additionally, we realize that our parents and community are essential to the academic success of our students. As we created this outcome, we considered the role parents, surrounding community and businesses play in the development of all students. We want to engage those stakeholders to assist in enhancing the learning experiences of our students.


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SECTION IV: Focus Areas, Short-Term Goals, and Strategic Initiatives

This section should define the school’s 3-5 Focus Areas. Within each Focus Area, list the associated Short-Term Goals along with measures of progress and targets. Additionally, for each Short-term goal, list the corresponding Strategic Initiatives.

FOCUS AREA 1. Instructional Strategies

Our district’s motto is “Where Students Come First.” At Dunwoody Springs, we embody this motto with the creation of this focus area. We listened attentively to our stakeholders and want to move our students forward. To achieve this goal, we focused on instruction, the core of student achievement.

As measures of progress, we will:1. Increase student demonstration of mastery through Project Based Learning2. Increase teacher proficiency with Project Based Learning3. Increase teacher proficiency with curriculum integration4. Increase collaboration to enhance instructional strategies

Summary of Strategic Initiatives:

Provide Project Based Learning Training Create a position to oversee Project Based Learning implementation/ support and

create community, business, and parent partnerships to impact experiential learning Request a sweep bus to be based at Dunwoody Springs as transportation for weekly

experiential learning experiences

FOCUS AREA 2. Time

“Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.”-Harvey MacKay We value the time necessary to create optimal learning experiences and quality instruction. To facilitate these components, we decided to focus on time.

As measures of progress, we will:1. Increase teacher planning and collaboration time2. Increase flexibility of seat time allocations3. Increase retention of content knowledge by providing additional instructional time

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Four full release days for planning and aligning curriculum into Project Based Learning modules

Adjust seat time based on subject needs/focus Create service-learning opportunities that connect our school and surrounding

community

FOCUS AREA 3. Parent and Community Engagement

At Dunwoody Springs, we support families in developing the whole child, and to prepare our children to participate in a democratic society and global economy. With this being a part of our school’s mission, we decided to focus on parent and community engagement as a means to strengthen our students’ achievement.

As measures of progress, we will:1. Increase parent and community level of engagement in programs that academically and socially

support students2. Improve student achievement by increasing collaboration with community partners3. Increase parent involvement and volunteer opportunities


Create a wide variety of parent volunteer and engagement opportunities Create service-learning opportunities that connect our school and surrounding

community

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Dunwoody Springs Elementary students have historically performed better in reading, ELA and math than in science and /or social studies. It is our belief that this is in part due to limited time spent teaching the latter core content areas. For example most grade levels rotate units of science and social studies due to time constraints. In addition to the unit rotation, time allotted daily for science or social studies is typically less than we spend on reading, ELA and math. Our students also find the content-rich vocabulary and more complex and isolated concepts more challenging. Last year, we began to experiment with increased projects and activities which allowed for the integration of all content areas. Student projects and activities incorporated science and social studies vocabulary and content into writing, reading and in some cases even math. The result was increased time spent on science and social studies content and increased retention of information related to these standards. It is our belief that the increase in flexibility with regard to seat time will allow us to teach subjects through engaging projects that integrate the curriculum in purposeful and meaningful ways. We favor this method rather than teaching subjects in isolation which does not reflect real world application.

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Project based learning will also allow us to further differentiate instruction in order to address the learning needs of all students. In addition, the projects would incorporate students’ preferred learning styles, foster collaboration and inspire students to obtain a deeper level of understanding of standards. We believe this method of teaching will engage and challenge students in ways that increase their desire to learn thereby positively impacting student achievement. Our goal is to increase critical thinking and organizational skills while teaching students how to learn through research, investigation and application – creating life-long learners. Once fully implemented we also expect to see an increase in the percentage of students exceeding expectations on state assessments. The limited approach thus far has already yielded positive results. With training, planning time, flexibility and additional experiential learning opportunities we expect to see even greater results.

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SECTION V: Next Steps

This section should be 1-3 paragraphs and should summarize the next steps of the strategic planning process. This section should include information that addresses the following questions:

Who will lead and monitor the implementation of the strategic plan? How will the progress of the plan be shared and communicated? When will the plan be assessed and/or revisited?

The Dunwoody Springs Governance Council along with school leadership teams will monitor the implementation of the strategic plan. Progress will be communicated twice per year with all stakeholders verbally and in writing. The plan will be assessed and revisited in August and January each year. Progress monitoring will occur throughout the school year.

Our Dunwoody Springs Governance Council discussed our next steps.

We have decided to create an ad hoc committee to conduct additional research on various approaches to extending instructional time.

Ms. Freeman, Mrs. Dawkins-Jackson, and Mrs. O’Keefe will attend Request for Flexibility Training as we prepare to write our RFFs.

Requests for Flexibility will be written to adjust seat time and to include four full release days for planning.

There is a possibility that an additional RFF will have to be written for a sweep bus to be stationed at Dunwoody Springs for the purpose of experiential learning excursions.

Select personnel will be trained on Project Based Learning. We will facilitate the creation of community partnerships to enhance our school and student

achievement.

Please note that Initiative Action Plans and the Strategic Plan Monitoring Plan will be separate documents and submitted at a later date.

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