Indiana Student Achievement Institute: Document 20
Columbia Middle School
Anti-Bullying Initiative
The Olweus Bullying Program is a whole-school program including all students, faculty, staff, and community that has been proven to prevent or reduce bullying throughout a school setting. The goals of Olweus are to reduce existing bullying problems among students, to prevent the development of new bullying problems, and to achieve better peer relations at school. Both Logansport Middle Schools sponsor a program kick-off in October. Columbia Middle School FOCUS teachers will continue to reinforce program ideals as we work to foster a school culture that does not tolerate bullying.
Impact Level: High Impact - Outside
Energy Level: Medium
Focus: General
CMS Literacy Initiative
The CMS staff will collaborate to improve the reading skills and levels of our students by implementing the Accelerated Reader program on a school-wide basis. An incentive program will be developed to ensure participation.
Impact Level: High Impact - Inside
Energy Level: Medium
Focus: Specific
Essential Skills
CMS will offer an Essential Skills class for lower performing students in grades 6, 7, and 8 who have the ability and are close to passing the ISTEP+ test. The class will be staffed by an elementary licensed teacher and a full time aide. Remediation of the core standards in math, reading, and language arts will take place at each grade level. Students in this class will be removed from one expressive arts class and the options class in order to participate. Project based learning, differentiated instruction, and alternative learning strategies will be used in this class. Our goal is to improve the students’ attitude and self-confidence towards learning and create success in the classroom. Students will be selected by a predetermined list of criteria including but not limited to Acuity benchmark test results, Acuity predictive test results, IRI reading assessment levels, teacher recommendations, discipline reports, and parent approval. Students will be in this class for the entire school year. At the end of the year, the principal and the Essential Skills teacher will determine if the students will be required to be in this class for the next school year. This is not a class for special education students, reluctant learners, low level ENL students, or students with discipline or attendance issues.
Impact Level: High Impact - Inside
Energy Level: Medium
Focus: Specific
F. Encourage Rigorous Curriculum
Columbia Middle School has developed a rigorous curriculum based upon the Indiana State Standards. All exceptionalities, including high ability, special needs, and ENL are served in a fully-teamed, inclusive environment. High ability classes are offered in the core subjects of math, language arts, social studies, reading, and science. Our eighth grade high-ability students take Algebra I. We offer sheltered ENL classes for students in levels 1-3 while level 4’s are served by our Essential Skills class which offers ISTEP+ remediation to select students at risk of not passing the high-stakes test. Special needs students are served in an inclusive environment supported by resource teachers. Pull-out is used as needed to reinforce concepts.
Impact Level: High Impact - Inside
Energy Level: High
Focus: Specific
I. Focused Academic Area: Frequent Assessment - Lang. Arts
Language Arts instructors (grades 6, 7, an 8) will use results from the three administrations of the Acuity Predictive Test as well as teacher-created benchmark tests to provide information on student mastery, partial mastery, or non-mastery of Indiana Academic Standards. These results will be used by the teaching team to determine mastery of standards. The SSP(Student Success Process) will be utilized to provide remediation to those students not demonstrating mastery at 80%. SSP will be delivered by the classroom teacher. This process consists of alternating two-week language arts and mathematics lessons. Students take a test on the standard that was determined "not mastered" by the predictive test and/or benchmark test. Students passing this "A" test with an 80% or better will pursue independent academic activities while those scoring lower will receive remediation. At the end of the cycle, they will have the opportunity to demonstrate mastery by taking a second test. Student progress will be reflected in student's final grade.
Impact Level: High Impact - Inside
Energy Level: High
Focus: Specific
I. Focused Academic Area: Frequent Assessment - Math
Mathematics instructors (grades 6, 7, an 8) will use results from the three administrations of the Acuity Predictive Test as well as teacher-created benchmark tests to provide information on student mastery, partial mastery, or non-mastery of Indiana Academic Standards. These results will be used by the teaching team to determine mastery of standards. The SSP(Student Success Process) will be utilized to provide remediation to those students not demonstrating mastery at 80%. SSP will be delivered by the classroom teacher. This process consists of alternating two-week language arts and mathematics lessons. Students take a test on the standard that was determined "not mastered" by the predictive test and/or benchmark test. Students passing this "A" test with an 80% or better will pursue independent academic activities while those scoring lower will receive remediation. At the end of the cycle, they will have the opportunity to demonstrate mastery by taking a second "B" test. student progress will be reflected in the student's final grade.
Impact Level: High Impact - Inside
Energy Level: High
Focus: Specific
U. Focused Student Group: ELD Classes (English Language Development)
All ESL students, Levels 1-3, in grades 6th, 7th and 8th will be scheduled a double block of English Language Development time. The ELD classes will be taught by a licensed instructor with the use of specially designed text and instructional materials. The emphasis in the ELD classes will be placed on developing academic English, vocabulary and language structures. The classes will allow ESL students many opportunities to practice reading, writing, speaking and listening in English. This program will be implemented in the fall of the 2010-2011 school year.
Impact Level: High Impact - Inside
Energy Level: High
Focus: Specific