Blue Valley Northwest High School

District Information

School Name:  Blue Valley Northwest High School
School Address: 13260 Switzer Ave.
                             Overland Park, KS  66213   

School Phone:  913-239-3400
School Fax:  913-681-7035
Principal:  Amy M. Murphy, Ed.D.
Principal email: amurphy@bluevalleyk12.org

Demographics

Number of Students:  1578
Number Eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: 4.3%
Percent of Limited English Proficient:  2.8%
Percent of Special Education: 5.1%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White 83.1%
• Black  3.4%
• Hispanic 3.2%
• Asian/Pacific Island 9.5%
• Other 0.8%

 

Present Student Achievement Data in at least three points to demonstrate trends – Kansas State Scores

Grade 10	2005 (BVNW/State)	2006 (BVNW/State)	2007 (BVNW/State)
Math	77.4/68.6	82/74.7	n/a

 

Grade 11	2005 (BVNW/State)	2006 (BVNW/State)	2007 (BVNW/State)
Math	n/a	n/a	89.4/84.4
Reading	80.3/73.7	88.3/80.3	92.4/77.1
Writing	n/a	n/a	93.3/68.2

 

Please feel free to comment on any aspect of the data that you feel is particularly significant. 

Over the past three years, both our Kansas Reading Assessment and our Kansas Mathematics Assessment scores have risen.  The increase in scores is attributed to the collaborative team effort.  Our modified block schedule allows each learning team to meet each Thursday morning for 40 to 90 minutes.
In addition, the change to the Kansas Math Assessment for 10th to 11th grade allowed the teachers to identify the students who had not mastered the state indicators and to create personal interventions which allowed more of those students to show mastery when tested in 11th grade.
Finally, our student body continues to become more diverse.  In 2000, 90% of the students were white, 3.4% black, 1.6% Hispanic, and 4.8% Asian.  In 20007, 83.1% of the students are white, 3.4% black, 3.2% Hispanic, and 9.5% Asian.  Our free and reduced lunch numbers have almost doubled in the past seven years from 1.5% to 2.7% this year.  Even though our population has changed over the past seven years, our performance data continues to increase.

 

Please present any additional information that indicates your efforts to build a professional learning community have had a positive impact upon students and/or teachers.

Our school has been involved with professional learning communities for the last six years.  During the last four years, we have been able to put more structure to our learning communities.  With our modified block schedule, we have dedicated times for our teams to meet weekly.  Twice a month the teams have 90 minutes of dedicated time to meet.  The other two weeks a month, the teams have 40 minutes to meet.  The teams are broken down into course specific teams.  This structure allows the teams to focus on essential curriculum, common assessments, data analysis and interventions.  Over the last four years, the teams have been able to define and continually improve the work that is done.   This is evidenced by the weekly monitoring sheets that each team submits.

 

Please elaborate upon strategies you have found to be effective in any of the following areas:

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Common Assessments:  Each PLC team has worked to develop common assessments of learning for various units throughout the semester.  This school year, teams are focusing on developing common “assessments for learning” or formative assessments which will allow them to better continuously monitor the progress of their students.

Common Finals:  Each PLC team has worked to develop common summative semester finals.  This has allowed more aligned curriculum with common learning outcomes from classroom to classroom.

Grade monitoring:  at the midpoint and end of each quarter, the percentage of letter grades received in each PLC course and by individual teacher are calculated and analyzed.  This data helps us determine whether the number of grades below a C is decreasing.  It also allows the PLC
teams to intervene and provide additional support where needed.

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

 Academic Resource Center (ARC) – Each period of the day, as well as before and after school,
math teachers are available to tutor students who need additional help.

Advisory Program - Each student in our school is assigned to an advisory class.  An advisory class consists of approximately 18 students and 1 certified staff member and meets once per week for 40 minutes.  The students remain with the same staff member for the entire four year period.  The advisory/student advocate has the opportunity to get to know the students and to assist with the academic, social and emotional development of the students during their time in high school.

Freshmen Mentor Program -   As part of our advisory program, each freshman advisory group is assigned 3-4 upperclassmen who act as mentors to the freshmen.  The mentors teach weekly lessons during advisory.  In addition, they provide support and guidance as the freshmen transition into high school.

Taking Care of Business (TCB) – This academic support time is offered three times per week, Tuesday after school, Wednesday after school and Friday mornings during late start time.  A student who is not passing a specific class is assigned to the Friday morning time slot.  If a student is struggling in more than one class, the student will also be assigned to the Tuesday and/or Wednesday times.  The Friday morning time is also available to students who choose to come in early for extra help.

Math Strategies Class -   This class is open to 9th grade students enrolled in continuing algebra and upperclassmen who are enrolled in geometry.  This lab-based class provides students with useful strategies and daily support. 

Reading Strategies Class - This class is open to student in all grades who are not reading on grade level.  This lab-based class provides students with useful strategies and daily support.  Using data from a variety of assessments, teachers and counselors are able to determine which students will benefit from this class.

Husky Head start – This summer program is available to various groups.  There is one section which helps incoming freshmen prepare for the transition to expectations of high school.  Math sections are available at various levels to help students refresh their math skills prior to school starting.  There are also several sections which help students who are taking an AP class that school year.

3. Building the capacity of teachers to work as members of high performing collaborative teams who focus the efforts of their team on improved learning for students.

Having a dedicated time to meet that is sacred is essential.  In our first few years of being a PLC school, there was not always a consistent weekly time for the team to meet.  Sometimes the time was interrupted by other professional development activities.  Having this consistent time that teams can count on has really helped to move our teams forward.
In addition, we have developed the master schedule in a way which allows for the least amount of interruption to our various professional learning teams.  Each time a new member is introduced to the team, the team has to take time to revisit the fundamentals of being a professional learning team.
Finally, the teams are given specific tasks or assignments.  Not all the learning teams are at the same place on the continuum so the tasks they are asked to do are not all the same.  Teams are required to turn in weekly monitor sheets which allow the appropriate administrator to stay informed of the work that is being done by each team.

List any Awards and Recognition Garnered by Your School

Grade Level Standard of Excellence on Kansas Reading Assessment –
2002/2003, 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007

Grade Level Standard of Excellence on Kansas Math Assessment  -
2001/2002, 2002/2003, 2003/2004, 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007

Grade Level Standard of Excellence on Kansas Writing Asssessment-
2001/2002, 2003/2004, 2006/2007

Grade Level Standard of Excellence o Kansas Science Assessment –
2003/2004

Grade Level Standard of Excellence on Kansas Social Studies Assessment –
2002/2003, 2004/2005

Building Level Standard of Excellence on Kansas Reading Assessment –
2005/2006, 2006/2007

Building Level Standard of Excellence on Kansas Math Assessment-
2005/2006, 2006/2007

Governor’s Award (top 5% of high schools on Kansas Reading and Math Assessments) –
2006/2007

America’ Best High Schools by Newsweek Magazine –
2003/2004, 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007

Siemens Award for Advanced Placement (Building) – One of fifty schools in the United States to
receive this award.  This award is given to schools leading the nation in AP performance and participation in math and science – 2005/2006

Intel Science Award - 2006/2007

Siemens Award for Advanced Placement (Teacher) – One of fifty teachers in the United State to receive this award.  This award is given to one teacher in each state that has been instrumental in increasing the AP performance in either math or science – 2006/2007