School Improvement Plan

What is a school improvement plan?

A school improvement plan is a roadmap of the changes a school plans to make to improve its level of student achievement. The plan shows what, how and when these changes will be made.

Why is a school improvement plan needed?

School improvement plans help principals, teachers, and school councils answer the following questions:

What are our strengths as a school?
What areas do we need to identify for improvement to reach all students and improve student achievement?

These plans encourage staff and parents to monitor student achievement levels. With current, reliable information about how well students are performing, schools are better able to respond to the needs of students, teachers, and parents.

How does the plan enhance learning?

The objective is to improve student achievement levels by enhancing the way curriculum is delivered, creating a positive learning environment, and increasing parental involvement in their children's learning at school and at home. The plan involves teachers, school councils, parents, and other community members working together to gather and analyze information about the school and its students, so that they can determine what needs to be improved in their school.

The School Effectiveness Framework

The School Effectiveness Framework a document published by the Ministry of Education. It can be found at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/framework.html. This document outlines key indicators of successful schools. These indicators form the basis of our school improvement plan at Sherwood PS. From the Framework Indicators we have identified the following Vital Behaviours for student success:

Students and teachers share a common understanding of the learning goals and related success criteria(SEF 1.1)
During learning, students receive ongoing, descriptive feedback based on the success criteriafrom the teacher and from peers (SEF 1.2)
The teaching and learning environment is inclusive and reflects individual student strengths, needs and learning preferences. (SEF 3.1)
Learning is deepened through authentic, relevant and meaningful student inquiry.(SEF 4.4)
Teaching and learning incorporates 21^stcentury content, global perspectives, learning skills, resources and technologies. (SEF 4.3)
Explicit strategies are in place to enable students to demonstrate strong citizenship skills such as leadership, teamwork and advocacy. (SEF 3.4)
Evidence of learning will be "Triangulated" to give students a fair chance at demonstrating their learning through conversations, observations, and products.

Classroom Goals (Inquiries) for 2013-2014

Each of our classroom's goals is summarized below. Many of these goals are written as "If? then" statement such as the following:

**Classroom Goals for the School Year (2013-2014)**
Grade	Teacher(s)	Classroom Goals for the School Year (2013-2014)
Kindergarten	Mrs. Visutski	If I use "chalk and sock" daily, combined with echo reading and language centre to meet individual students needs, then students will know all of their letters and sounds, and know some words from the pre-primer list by the end of June.
Grade 1/2	Mrs. O'Neill	If I integrate numeracy and literacy within science and social studies Problem-Based Learning then students will be able to learn to read, write, and communicate, and demonstrate math skills and work habits in context
Grade 3/4	Mrs. Ducker	If we engaged in accountable talk in every math and language block, then there will be an improvement communicating math problems and responding to open response questions in reading
Grade 5	Ms. Breen	If students are able to make personal and meaningful connections to their personal experiences then they will become more effective and efficient problem-solvers in mathematics.
Grade 6/7	Ms. Jessica	If students are able to make personal and meaningful connections to their personal experiences then they will become more effective and efficient problem-solvers in mathematics.
Grade 7/8	Mrs. Recoskie	If students are able to make personal and meaningful connections to their personal experiences then they will become more effective and efficient problem-solvers in mathematics.
Culture and Climate	Whole School	If we dedicate time throughout the school year to building community (i.e., House League events), and do explicit teaching of social skills (i.e., Morrish questions of the week, 7 habits), and embed the teaching of the RCDSB character traits, we will see a marked improvement in overall school climate and demonstrated civic literacy of students.