2015-16
Annual School Performance Report Newcastle Elementary School
Newcastle Elementary School
8400 136th Avenue SE, Newcastle, WA 98059
Welcome
(425) 837-5800 http://connect.issaquah. wednet.edu/elementary/ newcastle/default.aspx Principal Richard Mellish
Welcome: Newcastle Elementary engages our school community so families are embraced, supported and connected to the school and the greater Newcastle community. We
foster a Culture of Kindness characterized by respect for each other, high expectations and understanding. Our students… • Build character as caring and responsible citizens. • Grow as inquisitive, independent and confident learners. • Acquire problem solving skills and strategies with perseverance and creativity. • Develop thinking skills and habits applied across content and to real life situations.
Mission Newcastle Elementary inspires academic excellence through quality learning time in a compassionate atmosphere.
Demographics Grades: K-5
Teacher Experience Enrollment: 597 95.9%
69.4%
Teachers with Master’s/Ph.D
Teacher’s with National Board Certification
9.6
6 Average Years 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. Newcastle 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.
48.5%
28.5%
13.5%
District Report
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For budget details and more go to www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/annualcommunity-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.
Highlights Located in Newcastle Washington, our modern school design includes up-to-date classrooms, a gymnasium, multi-purpose room, stage, music room, library, computer lab, kiln room, and an outdoor covered play area. All students every week are engaged in each of these environments. Students learn essential technology skills and use technology in their curricular learning projects. All classrooms (kindergarten-5th grade) are equipped with technology from ACTIVboards and document cameras to student-used laptops/computers, I-pads and ACTIV votes. Staff uses research and best practices to guide their teaching. The District weekly schedule provides students with early release time on Wednesday afternoons which allows staff team collaboration and planning time. Staff also use this time for district training and focus on differentiation. Our highly dedicated staff team improves its practice and program by attending classes and trainings. To support student growth, our staff designs the school environment and experiences to… • Integrate peer collaboration and support positive social engagement. • Guide students as they share the responsibility of their learning. • Design authentic learning tasks and questions that connect new concepts and skills to the world around them. • Identify and adjust to each student’s needs to deepen knowledge and thinking skills.
Newcastle Elementary maintains a strong connection with its parents and community. Numerous volunteers assist in our school every year. The PTSA sponsors family events including a Geography Bee, Costume Carnival, Literacy Night, as well as many in-house activities.
Improving Student Achievement Newcastle Elementary supports every student in their learning. Staff continually engage in professional development, district training and outside courses to strengthen their skills to support diverse learners. Our School Improvement Plan (SIP) for the last few years has focused on improving literacy instruction through integrating balanced literacy and the workshop model of instruction which responds to each child’s literacy needs. In 2015 we began shifting the focus of program improvement to mathematics with a focus on problem solving and mathematical communication. This year staff engaged in exploring and using instructional tools and assessment that build a common understanding of problem solving and allows for students to reflect on and build their skills with through engaging in authentic problem solving tasks, collaboration and mathematical discourse. This focus on mathematics will continue with the integration of Eureka Math, the new math curriculum in the fall of 2016.
Special Programs Artist in Residence / Art Docents Program, Literacy CelebrationRead Across America, Grade Level Musical Productions (K-5), Great Kid Lunches (Lunch with the Principal), VOICE Mentors, Science to Go Lessons, P.A.L.S. (Parents and Literacy Support), P.I.E. Night (Parents in Education) and SAGE.
Before/After School Chess Club, Math Olympiad, Lion Club (Before and After School-Age Care) and Chorus.
What’s New: • Started phasing in a new Social Emotional Learning and Intervention program. • Reviving our Culture and Diversity Committee, which led to our Culture Fair celebrating the diversity within our school community. • Re-organization of technology resources so that each 3rd-5th grade teacher shares a full class set of laptops with just one other class. • Planning for all Full-Day Kindergarten classes in the fall of 2016.
Assessment
Grade Level Total ELA
Two tests given to elementary school students—The Smarter Balanced Assessment and the Measurement of Student Progress (MSP)—help indicate how well Issaquah students are learning.
87.9 82.0 74.7
81.2
77.7
78.9
Smarter Balanced Assessment The Smarter Balanced Assessment is a system of valid, reliable, and fair next-generation assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts/literacy (ELA/literacy) and mathematics for grades 3-8 and 11. The system—which includes both summative assessments for accountability purposes and optional interim assessments for instructional use—will use computer adaptive testing technologies to provide meaningful feedback and actionable data that teachers and other educators can use to help students succeed. Smarter Balanced assessments will go beyond multiple-choice questions to include extended response and technology enhanced items, as well as performance tasks that allow students to demonstrate critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to respond to complex real-world problems. They can best be described as collections of questions and activities that are coherently connected to a single theme or scenario. These activities are meant to measure capacities such as depth
of understanding, writing and research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with traditional assessment questions. The performance tasks will be taken on a computer (but will not be computer adaptive) and will take one to two class periods to complete. Smarter Balanced capitalizes on the precision and efficiency of computer adaptive testing (CAT). This approach represents a significant improvement over traditional paper-andpencil assessments used in many states today, providing more accurate scores for all students across the full range of the achievement continuum.
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Grade Level Total Math 81.0
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75.8
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MSP The MSP is an exam developed by and mandated by the state; it replaced the state’s original annual exam, the WASL, in spring 2010. Washington’s education reform efforts began in 1993 and involve annual state-specific tests for students in grades 3-8 in reading, writing, math, and science (MSP) and then again in grade 10 (High School Proficiency Exams in reading and writing and End of Course assessments in math and biology). MSP goes beyond multiple choice tests. The tests are much shorter than the WASL and include multiple-choice and short-answer questions. Four-point essay questions have been eliminated on science tests. This change allows students to show they are able to solve the problems, while not being scored on their writing ability on the science tests. Besides being a state test rather than a national assessment, MSP results are reported differently. Each student either “Meets Standard,” “Exceeds Standard,” or “Does Not Meet Standard” in each subject—reading, math, writing, science— and subjects tested vary among grade levels. MSP scores do not compare students to other students; instead they show the learning level of each student as compared to the state’s expectations for a well-taught student at that grade level. MSP results help parents know how well
each student is meeting learning targets, and the results help schools plan instruction and curriculum focused on these learning targets. Numbers represent percentage meeting or exceeding standard.
Grade 5 MSP-Science 85.7
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