Yale Secondary School

School Plan for Student Success

2012/13

1. Mission Statement:

We work together developing responsible citizens, dedicated to lifelong learning.

2. School Context: Yale Secondary School, situated in Abbotsford, B.C serves about 1200 students. Yale Secondary offers several programs of study to meet the needs of all students including gifted, special needs, career-oriented, post-secondary bound, arts, and athletics. Yale students thrive in a challenging Advanced Placement program, and in honours and adapted courses in junior grades. The school supports learning at all levels by the use of “vertical alignment,” in which learning outcomes are linked from grade to grade by subject area. Teachers see parents as partners in learning and many teachers have adopted on-line posting of marks so parents have immediate access to information on their children’s work and progress. Many teachers provide websites where students can access the lesson notes and assignments daily. The School Improvement Team (SIT) meets biweekly to discuss student learning issues in order to develop a school-wide professional development plan. Yale also offers wide-ranging and intensive programs in visual art, theatre and music, providing students with many opportunities to showcase their talents. Our Musical Theatre class presents a high-quality live musical annually to local audiences and our school district’s middle schools. This year, we celebrated our twenty-first annual production in which our students successfully performed “All Shook Up”. Yale’s student leadership crew is always working to improve the school with a variety of service projects, in addition to dances, weekly student activities, and student appreciation days. The Leadership Program has facilitated Lion Pride - the culture and belief in student ownership of their school. The mandate of the program is to build a school environment of inclusion, connection, and a positive culture while giving the student leaders an opportunity to grow in very specific inter- and intrapersonal areas. These students are models of responsible student citizenship, demonstrating leadership, responsiveness, self-initiative and reliability. Yale students enjoy many extra-curricular options – especially in sports. We have 340 students involved in one or more sports teams this year. Our athletic program is enjoying terrific success with teams ranked provincially in swimming, rugby, soccer, wrestling, and track and field. In addition, tennis, handball, and water polo teams are being offered. This year, five wrestlers competed at nationals, our junior rugby team is on the verge of a Fraser Valley Championship, several athletes are moving through to the BC track and field championships, our junior girls soccer team is favoured to win the Valleys, and our senior rugby team is ranked fifth going into the BC tournament. Other extra-curricular activities include garage bands, music ensembles, a chess club, a photography club, a writing/literature club, a school newspaper club, and a number of plays and musical events. Many students are also involved in the Key Club and in the Interact Club, which are associated with the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs, local community service groups. Yale Secondary school operates three sport academies: Hockey, Baseball, and Softball that allow students who are passionate about their sport to focus on skill development while in

school. Participants of these programs have gone on to great success in Junior Hockey and, we anticipate, college baseball/softball. This spring, Yale’s hockey team won the B.C. High School Hockey League Championship. FIve of the students were recently drafted by the Western Hockey League. (See attached Appendix documents A-G for the relevant Data Picture templates, and sample School Plans.)

3. Leadership/Teamwork: The school provides opportunities for administrators, teachers, students’ and parents to demonstrate leadership in support of improving student learning in the following ways: Administrators: • Provide professional development opportunities for staff. The 2010/11 focus was

“Excellence in Teaching”. Administration has provided time for departments to work on department goals they have created around student achievement.

• Allocate budget to support professional development and resource acquisition for Students on the Fringe.

• Extract summative assessment results at each reporting period and distribute to staff to encourage professional dialogue within departments around assessment of student learning.

• Monthly staff meetings are organized to facilitate staff input and direction. • Monthly Department Head meetings to share and discuss new information from the district

and Ministry. • Meet with the PAC and SPC to provide funds and input for additional support of athletics,

learning assistance computers, extracurricular clubs, field trips, library AR books, and one-on-one counsellor.

• Provide all staff an opportunity to offer their feedback about the new admin team through a satisfaction survey developed by the SIT.

Teachers: • The Professional Development Team, managed by our School Improvement Team, consists

of 8 teachers, is responsible for staff development. They have planned our retreat and all professional development days around our theme of embracing school goals.

• Department Coordinators meet monthly to facilitate school needs, professional development, and goal creation, direction, and obtainment.

• Each department has created one learning goal and implemented that goal in their classroom in 2010/2011.

Students: • Promote and support the Student Leadership program, which seeks to embrace all student

groups throughout the school in a celebration model. • Both the Interact and Key Clubs continue to support “fringe” students in the school and

wider community such as providing blankets for Cyrus Centre, rice for the Rice Raiser, as well as many more activities.

Parents:

• The SPC meets periodically to discuss progress towards our goals. • The PAC meets regularly to support the school through funding of extracurricular activities. • Parents volunteer in the library • We are very proud of our Moms who have taken on the Cafeteria and are producing quality

inexpensive lunches for our students.

4. Communication: Yale Secondary will communicate and make public our improvement goals and progress made through the following strategies:

1. The SPC meets regularly throughout the school year to facilitate dialogue about the

school plan, budget, Bill 33, and fees. 2. Community Relations position has been created to ensure that student achievement is

communicated to the local newspapers. 3. The School Plan is posted on our server where it can be accessed by all staff. 4. Our web presence is updated daily, particularly in the areas of school announcements,

athletics, and teachers’ web pages 5. Monthly PAC meetings provide parents with important information with regard to our

school goals. 6. The School Improvement Team (SIT) meets regularly to plan professional development

that addresses our school improvement goals. 7. Transition rates for students are communicated to all departments at the end of each term. 8. Monthly e-newsletters provide information to parents via email.

5. Goal Yale secondary has a goal to increase the number of students achieving at a proficient level in their classes. As a staff, we have used 67% as a baseline for proficiency. Each department has chosen an area to focus on in order to best meet this goal of getting more students to perform at a C+ or higher. Department coordinators communicate regularly with the principal to discuss progress toward their goal. This approach to goal setting allows each department to choose a goal that will have the greatest impact on student achievement in their area. This year’s school plan highlights the Modern Languages Department and the goal they chose at the beginning of this year. Modern Language Learning Goal: To help grade 9 and 10 language students achieve a C+ (67%) as a minimum in vocabulary acquisition for the target language to enable them to transition successfully to their senior level language classes. 6. Rationale In order to effectively speak, read and write a language, students must learn a wide range of vocabulary. The ability to recognize and reproduce vocabulary in its written and oral forms as well as to understand it in context is critical for successful language acquisition.

Over the past 1 year data suggest that most students in grade 11 and 12 language classes have achieved a minimum of 67% proficiency in vocabulary (Table 1).The data was collected by reviewing the vocabulary component on summative assessments. Furthermore, the data (Table 2) show that all grade 11 and 12 language students successful receive credit for their language classes. This level of proficiency in senior level language students can be as a result of a variety of factors including: exposure time to vocabulary, improved study habits, the desire to achieve good grades for transcripts, etc. When reviewing the vocabulary components on summative assessments for grades 9 and 10 language students, however, fewer students have achieved the 67% minimum proficiency (Table 1). Furthermore, the passing rate for grade 9 and 10 language students is much lower than their senior counterparts Table 2). Table 1: Percentage of students in language class achieving 67% proficiency or

higher in vocabulary (semester 1, 2010) Language and grade 2009-2010 % of students in class achieving 67%

proficiency or higher in vocabulary French 9 68.2% French 10 72.8% French 11 98.1% French 12 100% French 12 AP 100% Spanish 9 61.1% Beginner Spanish 11 56.0% Spanish 10 71.8% Spanish 11 96.0% Spanish 12 100% Language Grade level 2009/2010 Percentage of students passing that

grade level language class Grade 9 86.5% Grade 10 87.3% Grade 11 99.4% Grade 12 97.9% As a result of this data, the Yale modern languages department has decided to promote vocabulary acquisition in their grade 9 and 10 language students to facilitate the successful transition of these students to the next language grade level. 7. Objective To improve grade 9 and 10 language students’ proficiency in vocabulary to a C+ (67%) minimum in order to facilitate the successful transition to the subsequent language level.

8. Performance Indicators and Targets The vocabulary component of the summative assessment will be used as a performance indicator. Student performance on iPOD project was assessed (though not tabled below). Additionally, student scores on travel vocabulary before and after implementation of the iPOD slide show are compared in Table 2. Table 2: Vocabulary quiz scores achieved pre- and post-iPOD slide show project

(semester 2, 2011) Grade level Spanish Quiz % before project Quiz % after project 11 (Block A) 78% 84% 11 (Block B) 83% 91% Students also participated in a variety of vocabulary activities using the Smartboard and pre- and post- quiz scores are presented below (Table 3). Activities included Jeopardy, flash card games and oral repetition. Table 3: Vocabulary quiz scores achieved pre and post Smartboard activities

(semester 2, 2011) Grade level Spanish Quiz % before activities Quiz % after activities 9 65% 69% 10 67% 86% 9. Actions Teachers of the modern languages department will:

• use technology (iPOD touch with Sonic Pics) and direct students to create a slide show project using the vocabulary learned (unit/theme specific)

• use the Smartboard for various activities to promote vocabuary • model a variety of strategies to learn vocabulary (repetition, image association,

context/skits) • guide/model/explain the iPOD slide show project for vocabulary • assess the slide show project (based on established criteria) • record vocabulary quiz data following the completion and assessment of the slide

show project • collectively, create a brochure for students and parents that outlines specific

strategies to help learn/retain vocabulary (brochure has since been created and is attached)

• demonstrate/model the strategies in the brochure (a mini lesson)

• provide extra assistance to students falling below the 67% desired proficiency in vocabulary (two-column notes, image association, acronyms, etc.)

10. Progress/Results Related to Objective In grade 9 and 10 classes, an average of 67% of students are at the desired level of proficiency suggesting that intervention of some kind is needed to help vocabulary development for those who fall short. Semester 2 data, involving the iPOD slide show project and activities using the Smartboard, demonstrate an increase in vocabulary proficiency when comparing pre and post intervention data. This strongly supports that interventions such as technology can help students with vocabulary development. The Yale modern languages department will continue to implement strategies, such as those aforementioned, to improve vocabulary development for language students. Analysis of the summative assessment, for the vocabulary component, will ensue.

11. School Completion (Secondary Schools only):

District Achievement Contract: • To increase participation in and completion of trades and apprenticeship programs.

o Progress to Date: Yale continues to show an improvement in participation and

completion of trades and apprenticeship programs.

Present and Future Trades and Apprenticeship Numbers 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-12

Work Experience (projected)

30 100 110 140

SSA Scholarships 1 9 8 10 SSA Students 4 13 13 8 ACE-IT 2 3 23 32

o Future Work in this area: Yale continues to improve the numbers of students

participating in off-site work training and programs. The upward trend will continue in the future but at a lower rate. The District Heavy Equipment Operator program is run out of Yale. We will move the program in a direction that will improve the marketability of the students who complete the course. Students who are off campus on work sites or in ACE-IT programs are contacted regularly via Check My Mark, Synervoice, email, text, phone and a facebook group (yalecareersandworkexperience).

o Grad Transitions – 280 in 2011-12 and 340 in 2012-13

• To improve home-school connections for parents in our target groups. o Progress to Date: The Yale website is not static, it is an interactive site, responding to

stakeholders’ needs. It continues to evolve and is updated daily with announcements and events. It links to our library resources, teachers’ websites, grad information, course planning information, parents, the athletics program, and our school calendar. This year we have added a Learning Support web page to our site, which links to various learning tools to provide information about homework, study habits and organization for both students and parents. We host Parent-Teacher Interview evenings in November and April. Our bulletin boards (static and electronic) are updated frequently. Bulletins and news are sent via email through the Check My Mark program and/or Synervoice. A bulletin of school news and information is sent home each month. We have implemented the Synervoice system this year, which allows us to inform parents daily about student attendance. We also use the system to inform parents about upcoming events and provide information via voice and pdf documents. Letters are sent home after students have missed 5 and 10 blocks in a single class. Attendance contracts are provided to students and parents after 10 absences.

o Future Work in this area: We will continue to develop our school’s website in order

to provide our students and their families not only with school news, but also information pertinent to education. Next year we will use Check My Mark to create “The List” to monitor our Grade 9 students who are missing assignments in multiple classes. “The List” will be a tool that administration, counsellors and teachers will use to talk with students about achievement and assignment completion.

• To improve successful transitions of students between schools/grades.

o Progress to Date: Schools The Link Crew continues to transition Grade 8’s into

Yale. We hold an Open House in April for all students coming to Yale in September 2011, with a focus on those families coming into Grade 9. Teachers and counsellors are available to describe their programs/courses and help with course planning. The Link Crew host an Orientation session for all the Grade 9 students on September 1st. In late September we host an Open House for all families, with a series of workshops for parents and students about our Musical Theatre, Leadership, Band and Athletics programs, Grad Planning, an explanation what parents can expect of the Grade 9 program and as well as how to use Check My Mark. We collaborated on a Pro-D day in April with W.A. Fraser staff to talk about our students and how each staff provides service and instruction, as well as sharing our challenges. Our Learning Services Team has spent considerable time meeting with the Grade 8s, their teachers, and their parents in order to be able to develop an educational plan at Yale for each child. The process also includes visits by the students to Yale in May and June to familiarize them with our building and staff. The transition between grades is facilitated by staff and counsellors based on student performances. Students are assessed at the end of each semester and placed in programs that will ensure their academic success. Parents are called and advised of the best choice for their son or daughter, if a change of educational plan is necessary.

o Progress to Date: Grades

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 Overall Pass Rate in English 95% 94% 97% 98%

Courses Offered Overpass Rate in Math Courses Offered 88% 91% 93% 95%

Overall Pass Rate in All Courses Offered 96% 96% 97% 98%

The data indicates increased overall academic passing rates in the last three years.

Teachers have implemented a “no 0” policy, providing students with the opportunities to complete learning and assessment tasks. With higher passing rates, there are higher transition rates.

o Future Work in this area: Schools The Link Crew will be trained to implement the

Link Crew curriculum to our Grade 9s in 2011-12. We are developing a relationship between Yale staff and W.A. Fraser staff to share knowledge about the students coming in. In addition, we hope to identify and develop shared understandings about the skills and knowledge that are necessary for the Grade 9 student to be successful in each of the main subject areas (Socials, English, Science, Math, French).

o Future Work in this area: Grades Yale’s SIT Team identifies areas of student

learning that need improvement. They are in a process currently to make suggestions for improvement and will present them to the staff in June. The SBT meet on a bimonthly basis to identify individual students with academic, behavioural and social issues. They then collectively create a plan of intervention and strategies to support students’ learning needs. Various departments will also identify subject-specific areas of concern to target.

• To improve course completion/pass rates in provincial examinable subjects. Course Completion 2005-06 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 Math 10 85% 93.7% 90.1% 87.7% 94% Math 10 E 88.2% 94.4% 85.9% 85.9% 97.5% English 10 92.7% 94.7% 94.4% 95.4% 99.7% Science 10 96.8% 94.7% 95.8% 99.3% 99.7% Socials 11 95.7% 98.1% 98.3% 98.2% 100% Communications 12 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% English 12 100% 99.5% 97.9% 97.5% 99.2%

o Progress to Date: Our data has told us that our lowest pass rates on provincial exams are in Science 10 and Social Studies 11. The Social Studies department has been developing common writing assessment, which will be administered both pre- and post-semester in all Socials Studies 11 classes. We have had some success with our ESL students in the language enriched English 10 course. We expect improvement in their Socials 11 course. Our Modern Languages department has been working together to develop vocabulary learning and retention strategies. The members in the Science Department have examined how students can improve their understanding in creating and using graphs. In order to support student success, all teachers in the school are available for help before and after school or during lunch. We provide a 6-session program in both fall and spring for those students who pass the Provincial Exam but fail the coursework, targeting the Learning Outcomes students failed. This is run by one of

our Learning Services’ teachers. We have a voluntary Homework Club for Grade 9 and 10 students after school daily hosted by a Learning Services teacher with the help of Link Crew members.

o Future Work in this area: We continue to examine how we deliver ESL service at Yale. In 2011-12 we will have all our formerly and currently identified Grade 9 ESL students in a single Socials 9 or English 9 block taught by the ESL teacher. The teacher will scaffold the content and provide language strategies to the students, as well as identify the language needs of the students in order to develop an educational plan at Yale. The Social Studies department will continue to develop expository writing.

Aboriginal Enhancement Agreement:

• To continue to increase the number of Aboriginal students meeting expectations in

reading. o Progress to Date:

Provincial Exam Pass Rates (Aboriginal)

2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 Yale District Yale District Yale District English 10 91.7% 93% 90.9% 88.5% 100% 95.6% Socials 11 100% 94.6% 94.4% 94.1% 100% 96.0% District Assessment (Aboriginal)

2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 Yale District Yale District Yale District Grade 9 Write* 60% 51.1% 71.4% 59.1% 57.7% 55.8% *fully meeting/exceeding expectations o Future Work in this area: Currently most aboriginal students are in the Accelerated

Reader Program. Next Fall all aboriginal students will be enrolled in the Accelerated Reader program. The Aboriginal Program at Yale will monitor the progress of all

aboriginal students as they move through this reading program. We will continue to encourage and support aboriginal students who wish to place themselves in the more challenging courses and who wish to attain better marks in those courses.

• To increase school completion of Aboriginal students.

o Progress to Date: All Grade 12 aboriginal students are expected to graduate this year.

All aboriginal students, to date, have passed their language arts class in the current school year. Some have received added support with the help of a TA or a tutor. We expect that our school completion rate will be 100% this year.

Provincial Exam Pass Rates (Aboriginal) 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 Yale Yale Yale District Yale District

Communications 12 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% English 12 94.1% 97.4% 100% 100% 100% 96.3%

o Future Work in this area: As long as the support is available for aboriginal students we will be able to continue our high completion rate.

Appendix A

Sample Data Displays

SECONDARY A Data Picture of Yale Secondary School

Student Achievement Results Indicator 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 Grade 9 Write (% Fully Meeting/Exceeding) *(Changed from 4 to 6 point scale in 07/08) 46 42.2 60.5 77.0 71 65 English 10 - Provincial Exam (average mark) 73.8 74.1 73 70.68 68.23 68.27 English 12 - Provincial Exam (average mark) 76.8 75 74.9 70.57 73.10 67.77 Math 10 - Provincial Exam (average mark) 68.3 70.7 70.9 65.16 68.90 63.53 Math 12 - Provincial Exam (average mark) 80.1 77.4 76.5 78.65 83.59 76.26 Socials 11 - Provincial Exam (average mark) 73.9 74.3 76.6 69.77 73.54 76.7 Science 10 – Provincial Exam (average mark) 64.02 61.97 75.09 68.88 69.43 64 Overall Pass Rate in English Courses Offered 96 95 94 97.33 98.40 95.7 Overall Pass Rate in Math Courses Offered 88 88 91 93.02 94.60 92.5 Overall Pass Rate in All Courses Offered 95 96 96 97.15 97.60 97.5 Other Academic Indicators: Other Academic Indicators:

Student Engagement Data Average Daily Attendance* 92.98 93.36 92.43 93.19 95.17 95.77 % of Students in Extra-Curricular Activities* (includes only athletics, not arts, leadership, service)

25 27.3 26

Percentage of Students Using the School’s Learning Center -- -- Percent of Students who Successfully Transition from Grade 11 to 12 89 91 92 95.9 97.41 98.6 Percentage of Grade 12 students Graduating When Eligible 97.05 91.51 98.30 91.21 92.30 97.81 Number of catchment students enrolled in ACE 69 48 63 Number of Student Withdrawals 94 123 111 110 114 46 Number of SSA Students 2 2 18 14 8 11 Other Engagement Data:

Discipline Data Number of Referrals* Top Three Reasons for Suspensions Drugs 46

Alcohol 14 Fighting 5 Theft 5

Drugs 14 Alcohol 20 Fighting 21 Defiance 14

Drugs… 20 Alcohol…21 Fighting….9 Defiance. 28

Drugs…15 Fighting…11 Defiance…9

Drugs…17 Fighting…12 Truancy…7

Drugs…17 Fighting…14 Defiance…11

Number of In-School Suspensions 80 75 72 141 141 79 Number of Out-of-School Suspensions 78 84 73 54 54 56 Other Discipline Data:

Survey Data I Feel Safe At School Gr. 10/ Gr. 12 % 64/74 71/73 68/70 62/72 76/82 76/74 My Teachers Care About Me Gr. 10/ Gr. 12 % 40/61 45/50 55/42 54/57 N/A Other Survey Items:

Demographic Data Overall Enrolment 1138 1086 1147 1203 1243 1224 Percent Using the School Meals Program Percent Transiency* 11.99 15.78 16.13 11.29 7.28 4.83 Percent Special Education 8 9.39 9.15 8.47 8.34 8.39 Percent ESL 1.49 0.74 1.22 1.4 1.55 1.29 Percent Aboriginal 7.64 7.64 6.97 6.73 7.03 8.31 Oher Demographic Data: Oher Demographic Data:

SECONDARY