2017-18
Annual School Performance Report Briarwood Elementary School
Briarwood Elementary School 17020 SE 134th Street, Renton, WA 98059 (425) 837-5000 https://connect.issaquah.wednet.edu/elementary/briarwood/ Principal Steve Thatcher
Mission At Briarwood we provide a safe, supportive environment, which promotes respectful, responsible behavior, and challenges students, staff, and parents to reach their potential as learners. Our school motto is, “If it’s to be it’s up to me!”
Welcome Involved parents and community members enrich our school and enhance our students’ learning experiences. Thanks for making a difference!
Teacher Experience
2
Teacher’s with National Board 72.7% Teacher Experience Data for the Certification
2017-18 School Year will be available December 2018. Average Years Teachers with Master’s/Ph.D
11.7
Teaching Experience
OSPI Data In March 2014, the U.S. Department of Education declined to renew the state of Washington’s conditional Elementary and Secondary Education Act Flexibility Waiver for schools receiving Title I, Part A funds. This decision affects all schools in Washington State, which are now subject to the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Washington is the only state that has lost its waiver and must revert to NCLB standards and timelines of assessment. For schools and districts to be considered succeeding under NCLB, schools must meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards. For schools to meet AYP, 100 percent of all students, regardless of special needs or English language mastery, must meet proficiency standards. Briarwood met AYP this year. For complete information about the Issaquah School District’s assessment data, highly qualified teachers, annual yearly progress, and state NAEP (of Educational Progress) results, please visit the state’s online district report card.
District Report For budget details and more go to www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/ annual-community-report/ The Issaquah School District believes in seeking continual feedback from a broad and diverse range of constituents regarding their experiences with the District and their neighborhood school. See the Community Polling Study site at www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/polling for more information and survey results.
Demographics Grades: K-5
Enrollment: 699 96.2%
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Highlights Briarwood is one of three elementary schools in the District offering a Science Technology magnet program. This program features a multi-age classroom for fourth and fifth graders that provides the standard district curricula with an emphasis on science and technology. Students use technology and its resources through engaging projects, film making, and scientific investigations. The Reading Buddies program at Briarwood serves all second grade students. Senior citizens, community members, and parent volunteers read weekly in one-on-one situations to help our students improve their reading comprehension and fluency. The After School Assistance Program (ASAP) continues to shine at Briarwood. This academic after school program serves nearly 40 students in grades 3 – 5. Academic areas of focus for our students include reading, math, or writing. Teachers work on fundamental skills with students in small groups of five in twiceweekly, 55-minute sessions. ASAP continues to be supported from a generous $15,000 Kateri Brow Big Idea Grant from the Issaquah Schools Foundation (ISF). Funds help compensate the teachers for their time, provide healthy snacks for the students, and pay for an ISD school bus to take students home. Briarwood enjoys an authentic sense of community. Several volunteers graciously give their time in our classrooms. The staff at Briarwood is a closely knit group and they take a team approach to educating our students. This school year, parents and district personnel have been invited into the classroom to help us celebrate our writing successes.
Special Programs Briarwood offers several after school programs. Currently these include: After School Assistance Program (ASAP), Briarwood Bear Chorus, Scratch Coding Club, Go-Green Club, Running Club, Safety Patrol, and Student Council.
Student Activities Briarwood experienced a great deal of change this year with Mr. Thatcher joining the Briarwood team as principal, as well as great new additions with Ms. Ames (Dean of Students), Ms. Martin (Counselor), as well as 12 classroom teachers between the main building and preschool, a new part-time secretary (Ms. Stucky), custodian (Mr. Nyguen), and paraeducator (Ms. Rivas). Briarwood completed three years of school improvement focus and wrote new goals for the next three years in mathematics. Heading into 18-19 we are moving teams internally to bring grade level teams closer together to kick our collaboration around student learning into overdrive!
Improving Student Achievement Briarwood staff development sessions continue to be aligned with current district initiatives and curricular adoptions. Mathematics is the focus of our new three-year SIP plan, with a focus on the CCSS math standard “Operations and Algebraic Thinking,” with grade level teams learning math differentiation strategies from our ELL/GLAD, Title, SpEd, and SAGE teachers to better tailor learning for all students. Our Instructional Coach (IC) provides multiple learning opportunities in individual classrooms and in formal in-service settings. Teachers work closely with the IC to model, design lessons, share instructional strategies, and reflect on their teaching. Teachers collaborate on a regular basis to plan and develop engaging lessons for our students. Teachers also analyze and assess student work from a variety of curricular areas collectively. This level of collaboration leads to enhanced instructional practices and increased student learning at every grade level.
Assessment Two tests given to elementary school students—The Smarter Balanced Assessment and the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science help indicate how well Issaquah students are learning.
WCAS The WCAS is an exam developed and mandated by the state; it was given for the first time in Spring 2018. The WCAS measures what students know and can do on the 2013 science standards. WCAS assesses all three dimensions of the learning standards (science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts) and goes beyond multiple choice tests. The test includes a variety of item types including selected response (multiple choice, multiple select), technology enhanced, and constructed responses (equation builder, short answer). WCAS scores show the learning level of each student as compared to the state’s expectations for a welltaught student at that grade level. The numbers on the chart below represent the percentage of students who meet or exceed standard.
Grade 5 WCAS - Science
78.7
75.8
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Smarter Balanced Assessment The results of Washington State’s Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) and Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS) help parents know how well their student is meeting learning targets. They also help schools plan instruction and curriculum based on these learning targets. The Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) is a statemandated test that measures students’ progress toward College and Career Readiness in English Language Arts (ELA) /Literacy and Math. The SBA replaced existing tests in English and Math in the spring of the 2014-2015 school year. The tests are given as part of Washington State’s education reform efforts which began in 1993 and involve annual state-specific tests for students in grades 3-8 in ELA (SBA), Math (SBA), and Science (WCAS) and then again in high school (SBA in ELA and Math and WCAS in Science). The SBA consists of two parts: a computer adaptive test and a performance task. Writing is included at every grade level and students are asked to solve multi-step, real-world problems in Mathematics. Performance tasks ask students to demonstrate an array of research, writing, and problem solving skills. The SBA results accurately describe student achievement (how much students know at the end of the year) and are reported in two ways: scaled scores and achievement levels. A scaled score is the student’s overall numerical score. These scores fall on a continuous scale (from approximately 2000 to 3000) that increases across grade levels. Scaled scores are used to illustrate students’ current level of achievement. Based on their scaled scores, students fall into one of four categories of performance called achievement levels. Levels 3 and 4 represent “Meeting Standard” and reflect “adequate understanding” and “thorough understanding” of the learning standards. Levels 1 and 2 represent “Not Meeting Standard” and reflect “minimal understanding” and “partial understanding” of the learning standards.
Grade Level Total ELA
77.4
73.2
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81.7
81.6
80.2
77.2
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Grade Level Total Math 80.6
77.1
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81.7
e4
ad Gr
77.4
str
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76.8
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76.5
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