Apollo Elementary 2019-20 Annual School Performance Report

Annual School Performance Report Apollo Elementary School

2019-20

425-837-7500 • www.issaquah.wednet.edu/apollo 15025 SE 117th Street, Renton, WA 98059

Principal Jane Harris

Welcome It is extremely rewarding to be an active participant in a school community where student learning and excelling is the primary goal! Our committed staff, parent partners, and community advocates help to ensure that we reach our mission of developing confident, responsible, creative, and lifelong learners.

Mission We develop confident, responsible, creative, and lifelong learners. Apollo is a place where all are respected, supported, and challenged academically, socially, and emotionally.

Our Mission Goals: • Hold all staff and students to exceptional standards • Students are academically and emotionally ready for their life outside of school • Actively participate and work together to create a whole-school approach • Create learning opportunities and allow students to practice skills

Vision

Preparing All Students to Launch!

District Report

To review the Issaquah School District 2019-2020 budget details and more, please visit 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 schools. See the Community Polling Study site at www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/polling for more information and survey results.

Data from the Office of the Superintendent of Instruction (OSPI) State testing is required by Washington State (RCW 28A.230.095) and federal law. The federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), enacted in 1965, is the nation’s national education law and shows a longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students. On December 10, 2015 President Obama reauthorized ESEA as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). These state and federal laws result in elementary students being regularly tested by the State to assess their progress as they move through school. State tests at the elementary level which fulfill the federal Every Student Succeeds Act include the following:

• Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA): English Language Arts (ELA) and Math tests (3-5) • Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS): Science test (5)

Demographic Data

Grades: K-5

•

Enrollment: 614

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93.7%

80 60 39.9%

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34.4%

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16.6%

14.3% 1.8%

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Teacher Experience Data Teacher’s with National Board Certification

9.1

1

Average Years Teaching Experience

Teacher with Master’s/Ph.D

57.4%

COVID-19 Pandemic In an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Governor Jay Inslee ordered all schools in Washington closed as of March 17, 2020. While the initial order mandated school closures only through April 24, 2020, the order was extended to the end of the 2019-2020 school year due to increasing COVID-19 infection numbers across the state.

The Issaquah School District submitted its plan for remote learning at the end of March 2020, and remote learning began for all students on Monday, April 20. Students and staff moved to an online classroom setting, using various platforms such as SeeSaw, Classlink, and Office 365. District laptops and internet hotspots were distributed to families in need, and free meals were still provided for families qualifying for the Free and Reduced Lunch program at designated pick up spots around the district daily.

Highlights Reading Improvement is a current area of academic focus for our teachers. We work in professional learning communities to collaboratively improve our teaching practices to best meet our students’ needs. Within the broad topic of reading improvement, we focus on decoding, fluency, and deep comprehension. Apollo offers reading enrichment opportunities, to students in grades 4-5 who are very close to meeting standard, before or after school for several weeks from January - March. Certificated teachers improve students’ foundational skills in reading through the use of targeted and leveled curriculum. Students are provided transportation and snacks with support from the Issaquah Schools Foundation.

An integral part of our reading focus is ensuring that students do not lose progress made in reading over the summer.

Summer reading is encouraged by welcoming students and families, through the support of Apollo’s PTA, to come to Apollo’s library in the summer for book check out, story hours and more! And the Apollo Reading Rocket is available as an alternative space for small groups of students to read while they are at recess. Additionally, this school year, with support from the ISD and Title 1 reading specialist, Apollo was able to offer the Jump Start Reading Support program for a select group of Kindergarteners as they started the year.

Developing readers, writers, and mathematicians are of paramount importance at Apollo. Writing celebrations occur across grade levels several times a year. Growth in writing is monitored through frequent On Demand writing prompts. Growth progress, in reading, is closely monitored and instruction is targeted to individual student needs, though guided reading groups, independent reading, student teacher conferences and additional services provided to students who qualify Special Education, Title 1 and ELL. The Issaquah School District utilizes the Eureka Math Curriculum for the elementary level. The Eureka Math Curriculum provides students the opportunity to demonstrate fluency with numbers sense as well as build on their mathematical problem-solving skills and meets the Common Core Standards.

We are a school that welcomes all students and families. We are unique in that we house multiple district programs and so in turn we are able to meet the needs of all students who enter our doors—from those who qualify for special services to those who qualify for the highly capable and gifted classrooms.

Our students represent a diverse demographic both socioeconomically and ethnically. We strive to celebrate diversity and Apollo is very proud of our community. Apollo and the school’s PTA support an annual Multicultural

Night, Reflections Artist Celebration, a theatrical production, STEM Fair, and grade level musical program events that showcase our students’ diversity as well as their individual gifts.

With our Apollo Rocket Recognition program, all students have the opportunity to be recognized for positive character traits and academic achievement. Any staff member can nominate students each month for following the Rocket Way of being Respectful, Responsible, and Safe.

Students are recognized for their accomplishments as members of the Apollo Learning Community. Students are taught, throughout the school year, about respect, responsibility, and safety physically and emotionally. Each month, students nominated by their teachers for following the Rocket Way have lunch with the principal!

Apollo’s classrooms are equipped with a variety of technology in every classroom from kindergarten to fifth grade. Our students and teachers utilize the vast technology options, including laptops, desktops, I-pads, and google expedition VRs, in conjunction with ISD/CCSS curriculum approved applications and current learning curriculum to make learning interesting and forward thinking.

Apollo students benefit from strong community involvement. Our active PTA raises money, sponsors events, conducts enriching programs, and works diligently to increase our community and parent involvement. The Apollo PTA is officially recognized by the National PTA as a PTA of Excellence in the areas of ELL and Diversity, Advocacy and Empowerment, and Community Engagement. Apollo will be celebrating 50 years in the 2020-2021 school year and the Apollo PTA is hard at work to raise funds to support our efforts to replace playground equipment.

We have a strong partnership with the Issaquah Schools Foundation and have benefitted greatly from multiple learning grants the foundation has provided. District middle and high school students also contribute to the learning community at Apollo by serving as tutors in our Wednesday morning tutoring program and as volunteers at special events.

Improving Student Achievement

Reading is a current area of focused learning improvement for our teachers. We work in professional learning communities to collaboratively understand how to best meet our students’ learning needs. Within the broad topic of reading improvement, we have an intentional focus on Main Idea, Word Recognition, Key Elements of a Story, and Using Evidence within the Text to Support.

Special Programs

Apollo hosts two special district programs. Apollo has the distinct honor to be a site for those students who qualify for the district self-contained special education program, LRC II, and for those who qualify for MERLIN, the Highly Capable/Gifted self-contained program for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades.

Student Activities

Apollo has a variety of Student Activities including, Student Council for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders, Choir, World Drumming, Math and Reading intervention, Library Club, Girls on the Run club, King County Green Team, 5th grade Dream Team basketball and First Lego League Robotics. “Rocket Club” is Apollo’s on-site and district maintained, before and after school, tuition-based, school-age care program.

Just So You Know...

Our facilities continue to offer an excellent learning environment for our students. Apollo has technologically sound classrooms and a library with hundreds of current and classic titles. Apollo is a school of acceptance and pride. In this past year, Apollo’s grounds have been updated with new fencing and security entries allowing for continued safety of our students, staff, and volunteers. We are proud to say that our students and their families feel safe, welcomed, and encouraged at Apollo. We reach great heights doing all things the Rocket Way and each day we are committed to Preparing All Students to Launch!

State Testing 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.

COVID-19 Disclaimer

Due to early facility closure and suspension of end of year testing, 2019-2020 assessment data is not available. The data below relfects the school’s scores for the 2018-2019 school year.

Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA)

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 math. Performance tasks ask students to determine an array of research, writing, and problem solving skills. The SBA results describe student achievement (how much students know at the end of the year).

The Grade Level Total ELA and Grade Level Total Math charts on the right-hand side of the page indicate the percent of students in third, fourth, and fifth grade who met or exceeded standard in ELA and Math on the SBA compared to the percent of students who met or exceeded standard in ELA and Math district-wide.

82.2%

40

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5 e Gr ad

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20

3

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73.9%

80.6%

68.4%

78.0%

78.6%

Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS)

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77.9%

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79.4%

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The WCAS fulfills the federal requirement that students100 be tested in Science once at the elementary level.

The WCAS measures the level of proficiency students 80 have achieved (what students know and can do) based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The WCAS assesses all three dimensions of the 60 learning standards (Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts).

The numbers on the chart represent the percentage of 40 students in grade 5 who met or exceeded standard on the NGSS compared to the percentage of students in 20 grade 5 who met or exceeded standard district-wide.

76.3%

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83.3%

Di st r ic

66.7%

77.9%

5

74.9%

Gr ad e

73.0%

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60

Di st r ic

60

4

80

Gr ad e

80

40

Math

100

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English Language Arts (ELA)

Di st r ic

100