WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

FOCUS ON LEARNING

 

 

Visiting Committee Report

 

 

CONNECTING WATERS CHARTER SCHOOL

Waterford, CA 95386

 

 

Text Box: Making Parent Choice A Reality Today

 

March 6 - 9, 2005

 

 

WASC Visiting Committee

 

Ralph G. Vigil, WASC Chair

Dr. Sam Butscher, Principal

Dr. Brad Huff, Principal

Melinda Leiser, Teacher

Pam Coronado, Coordinator

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter I:  Student/Community Profile

 

Briefly summarize the most critical information from the student/community profile that impacts the school.

 

Since August 16, 2002, Connecting Waters Charter School has served grades K-12 students residing in the counties of Alameda, Calaveras, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Stanislaus and Tuolumne. The program is a non-traditional non-classroom based model that involves parents as the primary facilitator of the student's education. As of October 2004, over 1,429 students were being served. 

Connecting Waters Charter School serves as a public school for non-classroom based students. Waterford is a small community in Stanislaus County and doesn't realize the level of resources necessary to provide alternative education programs. Having designed an initial charter to serve the Waterford community to address the needs for an alternative choice for the Waterford School District, a hybrid independent study-home school program was established to address the needs of students not being successful in the local school system. Connecting Waters Charter School has grown to operate two learning centers in the regional communities of Ceres and Manteca.

The school organization is a multi-layered system that includes a Parent Council (decision-making body), an Executive Director (district relations), Education Specialist Support Director, ES Support Department Manager, Education Specialist Advisors, and Education Specialists (teachers and teacher support), all of whom coordinate educational resource support to parents and students.   The structure allows resources to be deployed in accordance to the family and student needs and wants for curriculum.  Support services are provided by a special education director, an assessment director, a school counselor, an English Language Arts specialist, a math specialist, a school secretary, an IT director, contracted services, a student records technician, and a student assignment clerk.

Individualized education allowing the student to progress at his/her own pace describes the mission of the program. Collected work provides evidence of student work. Support activities include tutoring, school organized group educational activities, contract program courses, internships, mentoring, distance learning, and community service. 

The unique operational funding model provides families direct input in the selection of non-sectarian educational materials.  The instructional funding budget for education specialists (teachers) offers a scale of service per grade (K-8: $1,200 and 9-12: $1,550) per year.  A budget is placed in an account under the education specialist's name amounting to the number students the education specialist is serving.  Unspent ES funds are not carried over year-to-year, but instead allocated to areas of instructional costs in accordance with SB740.

 

 

School Analysis of student achievement data

 

According to the data represented in the self-study the results of the California State standards tests show that in the area of language arts the 2nd grade students for 2003-2004 scored below the state and district averages; however, the results for the 3rd through the 11th grades scored slightly higher than the district average except for the 6th and 9th grades.  They were below the state averages with the exception of 5th and 7th grades.

The California State standards math results showed that Connecting Waters scored below the state and district averages overall.

 

The percentage of students testing for STAR is below the state average.  The school did not receive an AYP score due to the 80% participation rate of students testing.  The school received a base API score of 594 and was placed in the third decile statewide and in the first decile with similar schools.

 

The CAHSEE results show 91% of those tested in 2004 passed the ELA portion while 40% passed the math.

 

Analysis of transcripts revealed that about one-third of the high school enrollees for the 2003 school year and about one-half of the enrollees for 2004 were about 31 to 34 credits deficient when they enrolled in Connecting Waters. 

 

CELDT results for 2003 show that 1 12th grade student tested at the beginning level, 0 students tested at the early intermediate level, 4 students tested at the intermediate level, 2 students tested at the early advanced level, and 1 student tested advanced.  Where as, 2004 data showed that  1 12th grade student tested at the beginning level, 0 students tested at the early intermediate level, 5 students tested at the intermediate level, 3 students tested at the early advanced level, and 1 student tested advanced.

 

The certificated staff for Connecting Waters charter school showed that in 2003 there were a total of 64 teachers, 58 with full credentials, and 6 with emergency permits.  For program year 2004 a total of 59 teachers were represented, 54 with full credentials, and 5 with emergency permits.  Currently there are a total of 79 teachers, 4 with emergency permits. The average number of years experience was 11.5 years and 27% have 15 or more years teaching experience.

 

The school administered a survey asking graduates to indicate whether their experience at Connecting Waters had successfully prepared them for success after high school.  The Liekert scale survey indicated that more than three-quarters agrees that the charter had prepared them for success in their post high school careers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter II:  Progress Report

 

Since the last visit for WASC candidacy the following recommendations were addressed respectively:

 

COMMITTEE RECOMENDATIONS

 

1. The administration should work with the staff to create a systematic objective assessment designed to measure individual student growth.

 

Since the candidate visit last year, the administration and Connecting Waters' staff selected Edusoft to create standards-based, school-wide benchmark assessments for students in grades 2-11 Edusoft is a web based standards-based assessment program.  These benchmark tests determine when to give interventions to students; allow students to test in and out of grade level and to measure student progress. More immediate and more frequent feedback is facilitated. The benchmark tests help ESs assist parent/teachers choose proper curriculum for all students to meet NCLB targets. The benchmark tests help remove test anxiety.

 

STAR tests are the determining factor to measure the effectiveness of the charter school. A school committee read, discussed and concluded that it would be very difficult to teach every California standard in each subject.  As directed by Waterford School District's Curriculum Director, who worked with West ED, they decided to base the CWCS benchmark tests on the Ôessential' standards, as determined by West Ed.

 

Math and Language Arts benchmark tests are being used in the current 2004-2005 school year. Students are tested four times a year: September 20-24, November 15-19, January 24-28 and March 14-18.  All assessments will be completed prior to the STAR testing.  There are two bands, proficient and non-proficient, to measure student success.   Proficient is 80-100% and non-proficient is 0-79%. Studies show that five or more questions per standard show whether a student has mastered a given standard. Six questions are generated by Edusoft on each standard tested.

 

All ESs and parent/teachers are given access to Edusoft and can access the benchmark exams when they are released for the testing period.  Teachers bring the exam to those students who do not have Internet access.

 

Visiting Committee observations:

A)   Training of parent/teachers and ESs in the use of Edusoft has begun but is by no means complete. Sufficient training has been made available to enable the ESs to administer and track the Benchmark Exams.

B)   Analysis by the V.C. of the sample benchmark tests included as evidence showed developmental stages. This may be due to the limited number of questions in the question bank. Edusoft was used to create the tests viewed by the V.C. or the effect of selecting Ôessential' standards. At the time the Benchmark Exams were created in Edusoft, the Edusoft exam bank of questions was not complete in some of the subjects. The lack of use may lead to more training.

 

2. Administration should develop strategies for bringing the parent community together for purposes of improving communication.

 

The Connecting Waters administration has developed several strategies for bringing the parent community together for communication this year.  The administration has developed a parent list-serve where parents can receive information about upcoming events from the staff or other parents.  An Internet bulletin board has been developed so parents can discuss various issues of concern, but this has not met expectations.  Currently, they are working on finding a more secure system. ESs are required to provide this school information to all parents who do not have online access at their monthly assessment conferences.

 

The curriculum department has monthly trainings for parents called Parent Monthly Curriculum Trainings (PMCT).  Previously they were only offered in the two largest counties, Stanislaus and San Joaquin, but this year they have been also offered in the outlying areas served by the school as well.

 

The administration provides a monthly newsletter that informs the parents of upcoming events they might want to attend.  At these events they may network with other parents.  The other networking activities provided for parents have included: back to school night, open house, new parent orientation, quarterly parent council meetings, Group Education Activities, student craft activities that required parent attendance, etiquette training for students that involved parent judging and the end of the school year picnics. All of these events were well attended.  

 

3. Administration should work to increase the number of learning centers and expand the available course offerings at the centers.

 

Due to the structure of the school and the limitations set by CDE SB740 waiver process for independent charter schools, it is not possible for CWCS to fund a learning center in every city where there are students.  CWCS currently operates two learning centers, one in Manteca and the other in Ceres.  The Ceres Learning Center has been very successful at increasing its course offerings each year.  The Manteca Learning Center had a slight decrease in course offerings in the 2003-2004 school year because a few instructors resigned.  The course offerings are also determined by student need, which may vary from year to year. 

 

In addition to students taking courses at learning centers, CWCS contracts with outside vendors to provide courses for students. These courses include, but are not limited to: English, writing, algebra, art, science camp, geometry, Spanish, Tae Kwon Do and music.

 

4. The administration should provide additional professional growth development training for educational specialists and parents.

 

Education Specialists (credentialed teachers) are required to attend monthly Professional Growth training in the areas of 1) teaching strategies; 2) classroom management and other training designed to improve pupil performance; 3) conflict resolution; and, 4) academic content in the core curriculum. Training videos are housed with the small group leaders (Area Facilitators) and are available for check out by the ESs at any time.

 

Chapter III:  Self-Study Process

 

Connecting Waters Charter School Expected School-wide Learning Results (ESLRs).

 

Connecting Waters will prepare its graduates to be:

 

1.  Effective Communicators who:

 

2.  Effective Citizens who:

 

3.  Technologically Skilled Individuals who:

 

4.  Historically-Aware Learners who:

 

5.  Mathematical Thinkers who:


6.  Scientific Thinkers who:

 

7.  Lifelong Learners who:

 

 

 

The school's self-study process with respect to the expected outcomes.

 

The self-study resulted in seven Expected Learning results. Due to the nature of the school design, focus groups were established according to region. Seven-eight active participants were listed.  Parents that instruct their own children also serve as Education Specialists are often times parents.  Measurements of what students should know and learn were imbedded in the California State standards testing, STAR9/CAT 6 and CAHSEE. All curricular selections are done independently for each student, therefore it was difficult to identify school-wide measures from the school itself and all its regions. One-to-One conferencing is identified as the strongest curricular educational strategy school-wide. It was seen in work samples, discussions, oral quizzes, demonstrations of skills, and project presentations, students, parents, and ESs are continually assessing student growth.  This format allows the school to adjust to improve each student's individual learning plan.  Individual -pacing was an obvious design to the program.  The tools to independently select data from the school came from surveys, Edusoft (an online database assessment tool), Filemaker Pro, student portfolios, and teacher designed examinations (some by demonstration).  There has been some discussion regarding school-wide assessments.  School-wide curricular efforts connecting to the ESLRs are in the emerging stages.  The ESLRs were written to identify academic direction and the school expected to have found a need to strengthen the school-wide assessments toward meeting state standard and proficiency measures.  They also recognize the challenge to maintain individualized choice for parents in regards to self-paced learning.  Monitoring the progress of the ESLRs is in its infancy stage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter IV: Quality of the School's Program 

Part A - What Currently Exists

 

A.             Standards Based Student learning:  Curriculum and Instruction

 

A-1.     To what extent do all students participate in a rigorous, relevant, and coherent standards-based curriculum that supports the achievement of the academic standards and the expected school-wide learning results?  To what extent are the expected school-wide learning results accomplished through standards-based learning?

 

 The school reports that the "cornerstone" of their philosophy is based on utilizing, "É parental involvement, providing ample learning programs and opportunities for all learning styles, and supporting an individualized approach to learning."  The report further states that integral to the philosophy of the school are the following principles: parent choice, performance-based assessment and recognition that schooling is but one aspect of an education. In viewing schooling as one aspect of an education, Connecting Waters states, "the entire community serves as the school campus and lessons and learning take place beyond the confines of traditional school hours.  These principles present Connecting Waters with unique curricular and instructional challenges.  These challenges are to maintain the flexibility required to serve the community as a parent choice school and at the same time offer a challenging, standards aligned curriculum which is supported by the school's ESLRs.

 

 At Connecting Waters the student's parent or guardian is the primary vehicle for delivery of instruction in most cases.

 

This is done in collaboration with a family's assigned Education Specialist who works with the parent in the following ways:

-      Selecting a curricular path and the concomitant curriculum material

-      Using Edusoft to assess the student's efforts in meeting the state standards of a rigorous curriculum

-      Assessing completed assignments then assigning grade values and credits

-      Meeting with the family on a regular, contractually agreed upon basis

 

Through its offering of an individualized program the school offers a variety of curricular choices. A system needs to be implemented that will ensure the curriculum meets with the state required standards of rigor. The addition of a curriculum committee would assist the school in maintaining consistency with all curriculum materials and assuring their alignment with the standards.  The team observed two of the learning centers (Ceres and Manteca) and noted that while there are many curricular materials in each of the centers, there appears to be a lack of multicultural materials as required in the state standards. Upon interviews with families, the visiting team understands that many materials are checked out to the homes of the students.

 

Following are the methods Connecting Waters has implemented in its beginning efforts at engaging students and ensuring that all students have access to a rigorous, relevant, and coherent curriculum:

 

 

A-2.  To what extent do all students have access to the school's entire program and assistance with a personal learning plan to prepare them for the pursuit of their academic, personal and school-to-career goals?

 

The report states that by empowering "a community of parents, students and teachers to create learning opportunities which will develop accountable, responsible and contributing members of society who are independent, life-long learners...", Connecting Waters is providing access to the entire program for all of its students.  As a parent choice school, parents have the opportunity at Connecting Waters to design and oversee the course of their child's education, to teach lessons and subjects directly, to choose qualified local community instructors for a wide variety of subjects and to network with other parents and students.  If the parent or older student/ independent learner prefers the assistance of tutoring or more guidance from the Educational Specialist, those options are also available to them through Additional Education Specialist Services.

 

During the first meeting between the Education Specialist and the family, the groundwork is laid for the partnership in learning.  Together with the Education Specialist, the parent(s)/caregiver(s) make choices that will help create learning opportunities for the student.  These may include choosing non classroom-based instruction, independent study or a combination of learning formats. 

 

With the recent addition of a certificated school counselor, Education Specialists and high school students now have an additional support (ES is the primary support) in designing a high school path that will lead them to graduation and assist them in preparing for their post-secondary goals. The Education Specialist, using their knowledge and experience and information posted on the website provided by the school counselor, assists each high school student in developing a graduation plan considering the interests expressed by the student and the seven growth area requirements (corresponding to the ESLRs) which guide these decisions. Each student, with their parent, ES, and the assistance of the counselor, selects from the following three avenues, their individual path to graduation:  Carnegie units/credits, Connecting Waters' demonstration models or a student developed demonstration model. Both the school and guidance counselors, along with the guidance links via the Internet, are available to all students and ESs (teachers) by e-mail, phone, and at regular inservices and personal appointments.

 

Connecting Waters offers a variety of learning opportunities enabling students to access many aspects of the program. As a means of offering a wider choice in curricular activities Connecting Water has a process for arranging school-sponsored group educational activities as interest and funding support them.  The two largest learning centers, are located to serve the largest population of students in Manteca and Ceres.  Waterford maintains a smaller sized learning center associated with the office.  At these sites, students are tutored in math and writing, take classes in visual and performing arts, languages and science.

 

The report states that ELD and special needs students benefit from the independent study approach used at Connecting Waters in the following ways: individualized curriculum, one-on-one instruction by their parent, ES and tutor. Personal accountability for learning helps students develop a sense of responsibility and independence, which will serve them well in the future.

 

 

A-3.  To what extent are students able to meet all the requirements of graduation upon completion of the high school program?

 

As stated in the report, Connecting Waters' students must meet the state requirements for graduation as detailed on the school's website. Students, parents, and their ES determine long-term goals and fashion a plan, which allows the student to meet those goals. At the beginning of each school year all parties agree on a curricular plan.  This yearly plan may be changed at any time with parent and student approval, provided the consequences of the change, as explained by the ES, are understood.  ESs advise students using this and other information so they can review student goals regularly.  The report states that recommended a-g texts are listed for college prep students, as is general education and community college information.  

 

Connecting Waters provides testing for all sophomores in the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Students from 8th grade up are encouraged to take the writing and math classes offered by the school, practice with the benchmark tests or enlist the services of tutors to help prepare them to take and pass the test.  To help students be successful Education Specialists are encouraging parents of high school students to enroll their students in tutoring and algebra classes as well as offering Additional Education Specialist Services as necessary.

 

A-4.  To what extent are all students involved in challenging learning experiences to achieve the academic standards and the expected school-wide learning results?  To what extent do all teachers use a variety of strategies and resources, including technology and experiences beyond the textbook and the classroom, that actively engage students, emphasize higher order thinking skills, and help them succeed at high levels?

 

The report states that Connecting Waters will support learning and assessment modalities based on current research that identifies best practices regarding how students learn. Connecting Waters depends on a collaborative parent/Education Specialist relationship for the success of its students because it serves as a parent choice school.  On a continuum of involvement, the parent may choose to plan and teach all the coursework or they may verify attendance and check that assignments are ready to be shown to the ES once a month. High school students often come to Connecting Waters on their own, and, if they are motivated to take direction in the independent study program, schedule their work, and make progress toward achieving the ESLRs on their own, this program works well for them. The report further states that with many choices, encouraged and guided by the Educational Specialist and informed with a clearer understanding of the requirements of state standards and the need for students to achieve the ESLRs, all students in Connecting Waters may be involved in challenging learning experiences.

 

Areas of Strength

 

Areas of Growth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B.             Standards Based Student learning:  Assessment and Accountability

 

B-5 To what extent do teachers employ a variety of strategies to evaluate student learning?  To what extent do students and teachers use assessment results to enhance the educational progress of every student?

 

Global statements: Connecting Waters' ESs, parents and students employ a wide variety of strategies and measures of assessment to evaluate student learning. The school's Parent survey shows that the parents feel strongly that they can use a myriad of means to monitor their child's progress.

 

Although the flexibility to assess individual student progress by using a variety of measures is viewed as a strong point at Connecting Waters, it also presents a challenge on how to translate that into representative school-wide data. The school's commitment to encourage their stakeholders to address the ESLRs and State Standards by using a wide variety of evaluative tools makes it difficult to gather large standard samples that translate into usable data.

 

All stakeholders, including staff, are in agreement that the ESLRs are important goals and they appear in various places, but there is little evidence that all seven ESLRs are at the forefront of daily thinking, planning, and assessments. ESLRs are written on the monthly learning records, school growth areas are tied directly to the stated ESLRS, and parents report monthly on growth in these areas to their ESs.

 

¥ Longitudinal tracking of students is possible using Edusoft.  Edusoft is a standards-based computerized online assessment tool that Connecting Waters is using. This assessment measures student achievement relative to the standards across all grade levels.  Advantages of this assessment are that the results are immediate and yield information about skills the student has attained, as well as providing direction for further instruction based on the results. The evidence that Edusoft has been fully implemented reflects limited conditions in relation to its lack of data analysis being applied to resource selections for all students in addressing the ESLRs.  ESs were unable to clearly articulate the ESLR/data connection when asked about the resource selection process for students. The ESs and parents have all been trained on its usage, and its capabilities have been fully utilized by the parents who have chosen to use this tool with their students, and it is the parents' use that fulfills the goal of providing on-demand assessments and immediate feedback to students.

 

ESs use WRAT to assess grade level of students new to the school at all grade levels, not just K, 1 and 12, as stated in the Self Study.

 

A)   Assessing student progress in a personalized learning environment: Varying philosophies, mobility rates and the overall configuration of Connecting Waters creates an assessment challenge.  Developing and applying assessments that provide immediate feedback to students, parents and ESs has been identified as the most important aspect in the designing of personalized learning plans and guiding instruction.  Immediate results are important, as they can then be integrated into forming effective learning plans for every student.  For this reason, the creation of standards-based assessments, namely benchmark tests in mathematics and English, using the computerized software program, Edusoft, will be given four times yearly.

 

Parents on the Internet who have received training in the use of Edusoft can generate practice benchmark tests with answer keys to provide immediate feedback. Parents without internet access can pick up the exams at the learning centers, school office,

or ask their Education Specialist to bring an exam to their home. The results of ES administered benchmark tests are conveyed to the student or parent/teacher by phone or email, usually within 24 hours.

 

Sample benchmark tests in mathematics and English/Language Arts were provided as evidence of assessment and accountability. The questions, generated by Edusoft, are tied to the California Academic Content Standards. The questions for grades 9 - 12 were reviewed by the V.C.

 

Currently, Connecting Waters has piloted the benchmark exams.  ESs and parents have been informed that there may not be test questions yet available for all standards to be mastered. The effectiveness of the benchmarks will be re-evaluated in the Spring of 2005, once all tests for this school year are completed.

 

Geometry: All six geometry questions were based on Standard 17.0 (coordinate geometry) on the 3rd quarter sample test provided, but without addressing the use of coordinate geometry to prove theorems. There were no questions on Standards 14.0 and 16.0 included in the 3rd quarter curriculum.

 

Algebra I: All four Standards were addressed by the 24 questions on the benchmark test, but there were no higher order skills assessed: Standard 10.0 "Students solve multi-step problems, including word problems, by using these techniques,"  and Standard 13.0 "Students solve both computationally and conceptually challenging problems by using these techniques," were not tested.

 

Algebra II: The twelve questions on the benchmark test all dealt with Standards 9.0 and 10.0 on graphing parabolas. There were no questions testing Standards 11.1, 11.2, or 12.0 on exponential and logarithmic concepts and skills that are listed in the 3rd quarter curriculum.

 

Language Arts 9th and 10th: The twelve questions on the benchmark test were all reading comprehension questions. Although the Category listed in the Standards is Reading Comprehension, none of the specific 3rd quarter standards listed below were tested by the twelve questions on the test:

2.4 "Synthesize the content from several sources of works by a single author dealing with a single issue; paraphrase the ideas and connect them to other sources and related topics to demonstrate comprehension."

2.5 "Extend ideas presented in primary or secondary sources through original analysis, evaluation and elaboration."

 

Language Arts 11th and 12th: The sixteen questions are supposed to address Standards 3.5 and 3.9

3.5 "Analyze recognized works of American literature representing a variety of genres and traditions" - There is an adequate connection between the readings presented, the multiple-choice questions, and this Standard.

3.9 "Analyze the philosophical arguments presented in literary works to determine whether the authors' positions have contributed to the quality of each work and the credibility of the characters" - The questions do a creditable job of assessing this Standard.

 

 

The sample benchmark assessments in English and mathematics to be administered each quarter for grades 9 - 12 do not adequately assess the Standards indicated.  There were no observations of benchmark use or test questions generated from the test bank for student use.

 

 A good feature of using Edusoft, as a developing normalized test, is that parent/teachers with Internet access and training can generate practice benchmark tests for their children/students. For families lacking Internet access, the ES can provide sample tests.

 

B) Rubrics - Basic rubrics for writing and mathematics have been developed. This effort is in its infancy. The rubrics are very basic and need further development to be useful. Obtaining rubrics from the Golden State Exams or other sources is highly recommended for the high school level and we intend to further develop these for each grade level

 

C) Learning Styles - The school's Parent Support/Curriculum department has recently trained parents in standards-based education and learning styles.

 

D) Career Preparation/Future Goals - The need for specific direction for high school students in making decisions and goals about their future is a component that is encouraged.

 

E) Character Training and Technology Education - Character training and technology education is being enhanced.

 

F) Statewide Mandated Testing - Ensuring that each student participates in the CST and STAR testing is a priority.  This proves to be a challenge because 17% (83% tested last year) of the parents are opposed to these measures and sign waivers to opt their child out of testing.  This makes it even more important that Connecting Waters utilizes multiple assessment methods. There is a need to increase participation in STAR, so that the results will be reflective of the total population and to ensure the renewal of the charter. In addition, this will allow long term planning by analyzing more complete data for student improvement, particularly in the focus areas of math and writing.

 

G) One-on-One Conferencing - An important component of the assessment system at Connecting Waters is the one-on-one conferencing used school-wide.  Assessment is an integral part of these weekly to monthly conferences with students and parents.  Through work samples, discussions, oral quizzes, demonstrations of skills, and project presentations, students, parents, and ESs are continually assessing student growth.  This format allows the school to adjust to improve each student's individual learning plan.  All stakeholders report finding these conferences valuable and supportive. The opportunity to assess and evaluate as stated above provides a method of measurement that informs and drives instruction for those below grade level, on grade level, and above grade level.  The results of these conferences become learning records, which allow all stakeholders to keep track of progress.

 

H) Need for Benchmark Assessments in Other Core Areas: Each year assessments will be added to include all of the core subjects." 

 

Areas of Strength:

  -    Personalized assessment: A variety of assessment tools are used; multiple measures are used when evaluating individual student achievement

      One-on-One Conferences: One-on-one conferencing produces learning records to track student progress

-      Benchmark Tests: Standards-based benchmark tests generated by Edusoft provide immediate feedback to parent/teachers and students and also reduce anxiety about statewide testing.

-      Recognition of Need for Training in Learning Styles: ESs and parent/teachers are being trained in identifying and adapting instruction based on students' learning styles.

 

Growth Areas:

-      Standardization of Results from Personalized Assessments: Multiple assessment tools and highly personalized measures must be validated by common standards. State academic content standards must be addressed regularly by ESs at learning record conferences with students and parent/teachers.

-      Representative School-wide Data Results: 95% participation is required for AYP; 90% participation is required for API. Renewal of the school's charter may be in jeopardy, if participation is too low.

-      Rubric Development: Refine rubrics and train ESs and parent/teachers to use quality rubrics.

 

 

B-6 To what extent do the school district and community regularly review student progress toward achievement of the academic standards and the expected school-wide learning results and report to the parents and other stakeholders of the community?

 

A)   Global: Review of student progress toward achievement of the academic content standards and the expected school-wide learning results is accomplished through the Connecting Waters Executive Director reporting to the following: CWCS Parent Council, President of Innovative Educational Management, CWCS Department Heads, CWCS Resource Center Coordinators, Waterford Unified School District Administration and the Waterford USD Board of Education.

 

There is evidence that the CWCS Director reports student progress from statewide testing and internal assessments to the stakeholders listed above. ESLRs are embedded in the monthly learning records, our school growth areas are tied directly to the ESLRS, and parents report monthly on growth in these areas to their ESs. Aside from this condition, there is little or no visible evidence that the seven ESLRs are part of the day-to-day instruction and assessment. The administration and ESs are focusing on ESLRs 1 (Communication, that is English/Language Arts) and 5 (Mathematics), so this should carry over to the parent/teachers and students. These ESLRs are being assessed. The other five ESLRs are laudable principles for a school and assessments may be able to be related to them, but there is limited evidence of the depth that the students, parent/teachers, ESs and members of the CWCS community have internalized them, teach to them, and assess them at this time.