Analysis of Current Educational Practice

The following statements characterize educational practice at this school:

Currently adopted Social Studies, Math, and Language Arts programs are aligned with California Content Standards. A standards-aligned science program will be implemented in August of 2007. There are more than enough standards-based instruction materials available to address the grade levels and achievement levels of the students. With each new program adoption, there is initial and ongoing staff development and peer collaboration for implementation of the new program. The Ettersburg School teacher and instructional assistant also have the opportunity to attend out-of-district workshops in order to keep current with new research and best practices across the curriculum.

Because Ettersburg School is a small, one-room schoolhouse, with low enrollment and high teacher-to-student ratio, students receive individualized instruction based on their performance levels in all academic areas. The daily schedule is flexible to best meet the academic needs of each student. An instructional assistant works 4 hours a day with Title 1 students. Identification for Title 1 services comes from Fall District Benchmark tests, teacher recommendation, and Spring STAR Test results. Ongoing formal and informal assessment is used by the teacher to determine program modifications. Currently 43% of the students in the classroom are not meeting grade-level standards in at least one area.

Special education services are available as needed. Currently, the speech therapist provides weekly services to three students. The resource teacher provides services to one student. There are no community resources available. Only 57% of the students regularly return homework assignments.

Geography of the community prevents extra-curricular activities for most students. Remediation takes place within the regular day. The advantage of being a small school is that each student gets assistance based specifically on their identified academic needs. The disadvantage is that there is not a peer group to inspire students to higher achievements. Because of the low enrollment, every activity needs to be modified to meet the needs of the group in terms of physical size and ability. This is especially felt during group reading and PE time, but also during science, art, music, social studies, ect.

Student Performance Data Summary

Because of our small enrollment, student performance data is not statistically significant. Our school does not have an API. Our school demographic characteristics are also not statistically significant. 43% of students did not meet their fall benchmark tests in language arts, and 29% did not meet fall benchmarks in math. 57% of the students are new to Ettersburg School this year. Only one student has been enrolled continuously prior to this year.

School Goals for Improving Student Achievement

Goal #1: Improve and increase family participation in their child's education.

Goal #2: Motivate students to reach higher levels of achievement in all content areas.

Goal #3: Ensure that all whole-group lessons target the range of physical size and ability levels in the classroom, while meeting California standards.

Goal #4: By the end of third grade, students will be able to write a narrative and expository essay, given a prompt.

Goal #5: Select and implement, District-wide, a science program which is currently State-adopted