Fossil Ridge Intermediate School

School Information

School Name: Fossil Ridge Intermediate School
District Name: Washington County School District
School Address: 383 S. Mall Drive St., George, UT 84790
School Phone: 435.652.4706
School Fax: 435.652.4758
Principal: Bob Sonju
Principal email: sonju@fossilschool.org
Web Address: http://fossilschool.org/

Demographics

Number of Students: 860
Number Eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: 48-50%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: 8-10%
Percent of Special Education: 11-13%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White: 75%
• Black: 1%
• Hispanic: 17%
• Asian/Pacific Island: 4%
• Other: 3%

Student Achievement Data

Comparison Data: Fossil Ridge Intermediate/State of Utah End of Level Assessments

You can view more data from Fossil Ridge in this attached PDF.

Grade 6	Math	Language Arts	Science
2007-08	NA	72/79	74/69
2008-09	61/61	75/82	74/72
2009-10	66/71	77/79	86/74
2010-11	75/76	82/80	85/74

 

Grade 7	Math	Language Arts	Science
2007-08	NA	73/79	69/68
2008-09	79/67	80/83	74/70
2009-10	85/67	83/84	82/73
2010-11	80/68	85/82	83/73

 

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

As a result of implementing PLC concepts and with a clear focus on our school culture and immediate, specific intervention, Fossil Ridge Intermediate School has undergone significant changes to our school community culture and approach to student learning.  It’s important to note that Fossil Ridge could be characterized as a “good” school.  But in order to move toward becoming exemplary, we had to commit to the fundamentals of the PLC process.  As evidenced by multiple forms of data, we have increased proficiency levels in each of our core areas (math, language arts, and science) over a 3 year period.  It is also worth note that comparing proficiency scores of 6th grade students in math and language arts with their scores the following year (7th grade), shows continued significant growth and high levels of learning for the students of Fossil Ridge Intermediate School. 

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.

We are passionately committed to the fundamentals of the Professional Learning Community process.  Effective collaboration teams (through common preps), utilization of common formative assessments in the classroom, a fully functional PRTI where students are monitored every 2 weeks, and school-wide celebrations of learning are practices that are engrained in our learning culture.  As a PLC, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our practices.  For example, following the implementation of our personal PRTI, we saw an increase in the academic grades of our students. We knew our laser-like focus on student learning and intervention was making a difference in student learning (as demonstrated by both formative and summative assessments) but we began to question whether these increases in academic grades were a result of true learning or from students simply “getting their work in.”   As we are committed to continuous improvement, we are currently researching and implementing effective grading practices which are a much truer reflection of student learning.  By separating demonstrations of learning (assessments, essays, labs, etc) from traditional effort activities (homework, behavior, effort, punctuality, etc.), grades are becoming a more accurate reflection of a student’s learning. Through our continued research, we discovered the power of non-fiction writing across all curricular areas with consistent feedback.  As a result, we implemented a consistent school-wide writing rubric to be used in scoring the 12 non-fiction writing assignments required of our students per year. We are continually in the process of studying and modifying our approach to writing (and learning) and will make changes to the rubric based on feedback we have received.

Our Leadership Team was recently invited to share our intervention strategies and increased student results with our local school board showcasing the tremendous work and growth of our students and teachers.

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

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Teachers routinely use common formative assessment data to identify students who need intervention or additional time.  Every two weeks, our Leadership Team runs a list of students who are “below proficiency”, identifying students who are at-risk.  Previous interventions are discussed and a decision is made as to the effectiveness of the current intervention.  Additional interventions from our pyramid are assigned and again monitored as to the effectiveness of each of these in regards to the identified student’s learning. These interventions are “not-optional” and increase in intensity as a student moves through the Fossil Pyramid of Interventions.  Utilizing the work of Mike Mattos, we are currently in the process of separating INL (intentional non-learner) interventions from FL (failed learner) interventions in order to further personalize specific interventions to fit individual student needs. 

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

Our school is committed to the PLC question “How will we respond if they don’t learn it?” and has done significant study and research into effective intervention.  As a guiding document, we have utilized the research of Mike Mattos, Austin Buffum, and Chris Weber and their work in Pyramid Response to Intervention to begin our work of providing immediate, specific intervention.  At the heart of this is a bi-weekly, school-wide intervention where students are grouped homogeneously by concept. We have developed 22 specific, directed interventions with the idea that time is flexible and learning is constant. 

Teams have created norms for collaboration, common pacing guides, and common formative assessments that are used to identify and monitor a student’s learning. In supporting collaboration efforts, Fossil Ridge has implemented common prep periods for all teams allowing for daily collaboration. 

As a result of the implementation of PLC process and our PRTI model, we have become passionate in our approach to identifying student needs and intervening immediately.  Consequently, end of level assessment scores have increased from 7-19% over the last 3 years. Through the review of multiple survey results, teachers, parents, and students are confident in not only the learning that takes place, but the support that is offered at FRI.

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.

As stated previously, we are committed to moving from good to exemplary.  Teachers take part in formal Learning Walks twice a year, identifying 1 specific, exemplary practice and/or strategy from each classroom visited. Student learning is celebrated through numerous display cases in the entry of our school as well as school-wide academic assemblies at the end of each grading period where learning is recognized and certificates are plentiful.  New teachers and staff members to Fossil Ridge receive training on the PLC process, effective collaboration, utilization of formative assessment data, interventions, as well as “how we do things at FRI.”.  They are then supported throughout the year by our own Staff Developer and FRI Administration who visit frequently to support them in their development and practices. 

Through some work and creativity, we have been able to provide common prep periods for teams to facilitate frequent collaboration, embedded in the school day.  Each of these teams meets collaboratively 1-2 times a week focusing on essential PLC and learning components.  These teams are responsible for developing common formative assessments, administering them and analyzing results, and utilizing these results to provide immediate, specific intervention as well as extension activities.  These common formative assessments and results are used as tools for student learning.  Content teams collaboratively develop interventions and extensions that correlate with their curriculum maps/pacing guides.  It is also worth note that an interesting by-product of a fully functioning PRTI has made our collaboration efforts and use of data critical in identifying students in need of extra help.  We have found that teams couldn’t identify students without frequently and effectively collaborating or using data that is available. As a school, we provide school-wide intervention three times per week by regrouping the students by concept based on the common formative assessment data for remediation and extensions.  If one teacher has demonstrated an expertise or has successfully used special activities or strategies, he or she may teach the other members of the team or the students with the greatest need may be regrouped into that teacher’s class for intervention. We have also provided specific intervention two times per week by providing extra learning time for students who struggle in math and reading.

We passionately believe that focused, extra time is necessary for effective student intervention.  Fossil Ridge has practiced vertical teaming in core areas and recently began implementation of cross-curricular teaming in order to find commonalities in concepts that can be supported across all content areas.  The collaborative teams use a basic meeting template that allows them to review their team norms, and to identify/ report on the focus and progress of the 4 critical PLC areas.  SMART goals are developed by each team and documented as part of our digital Consolidated School Improvement Plan with progress toward the achievement of these goals being reported throughout the year.

School and team goals focusing on student learning and achievement are developed as part of our CSIP and monitored throughout the year.  School goals are now posted by the entrance of each classroom reminding each of us of our focus for the year.  We are currently in the process of enhancing our enrichment offerings through increased differentiated instruction in each classroom which will complement our existing school-wide enrichment offerings.   We are committed to the fundamentals of the Professional Learning Community process.  As a result of this passionate commitment, student learning has increased as evidenced by end of level assessments scores.

List any Awards and Recognition Garnered by Your School

2006 WCSD Teacher of the Year-Mrs. Seanne Rimer
2007 WCSD Professional Learning Community Team of the Year – Fossil Ridge Fine Arts
2008 St. George City Beautification Award - Fossil Ridge Ambassadors (Leadership and Service)
2010 WCSD Professional Learning Community Team of the Year – Fossil Ridge Math
2011 UASSP Principal of the Year – Mr. Bob Sonju
2011 Superintendent's Award of Excellence-Science team
2012 NASSP National Principal of the Year Finalist (Top 3) – Mr. Bob Sonju