Francis Howell High School

School Information

School Name:  Francis Howell High School
School Address: 7001 Highway 94 South, St. Charles, MO 63304
School Phone: 636.851.4700
School Fax: 636.851.4115
Principal:  Dr. Chris Greiner
Principal E-Mail:  chris.greiner@fhsdschools.org
Web Address: http://fhh.fhsd.k12.mo.us/

Demographics
Number of Students: 1,865
Number eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: 4%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: 0%
Percent of Special Education: 10.3%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White: 94%
• Black: 4%
• Hispanic: <1%
• Asian/Pacific Island: 1%
• Other: <1%

Present Student Achievement Data in at least three points to demonstrate trends – for example, three consecutive years or the first, third, and fifth years. The data report should always include the most recent school year and should always offer a basis of comparison (for example, state scores, national scores, similar SES schools).

State Test: Meeting and exceeding proficiency (10th and 11th grades)

School test (school/state)	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Comm. Arts	37/20	39/23	42/43	55/44	59.3/45.7	85.2/72.6	87.4/72.6
Math	22/10	21/17	49/42	62/45	60.1/46.7	48.9/52.7	72.3/52.7
Biology						77.3/55.1	78.1/55.1

 

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
ACT Composite	22.2	21.9	22.2	22.6	22.5	23.3	23.1

 

Performance on Advanced Placement	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Number of AP Exams	32	40	74	155	272	270	302
Percent scoring 3 or better	47	50	59	53	59	67	60

 

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.

• All staff members set classroom unit based goals in the areas of achievement, attendance, and behavior that are monitored at the end of each unit’s block of instruction on the assessment.
• Each PLC team sets its achievement goal around a specific, high leverage academic standard that is embedded within the common assessments given by the PLC so that student achievement related to the standard may be monitored and appropriate adjustments in instruction may be developed within the context of the team meetings. Last year, more than 90 percent of the PLC teams met their achievement goal each semester.  
• Individual classes of students who meet the achievement, attendance, and behavior goals each quarter are recognized in celebration activities.
• Teachers in singleton courses such as band, choir, journalism, and Advanced Placement collaborate with their course-alike colleagues in the other two high schools in the district.  
• Our staff, students, and parents set value statements each year that align with the school mission and vision.
• All teachers participate in departmental and content specific professional development chosen by each department in a recent needs assessment survey. Although each department’s focus is slightly different, the common threads across all of the teachers’ professional development include the following:
• A focus on a single, academic standard for a semester;
• This academic standard will be unwrapped so that the meaning of the standard is clear and explicit;
• A SMART goal will be set to identify a standard of student performance;
• Teachers will evaluate and/or develop related assessment questions at the appropriate Depth of Knowledge Level to measure student proficiency;
• Teachers will assess student proficiency within this standard in three separate assessments over the course of the semester;
• Teachers will assign, score, and provide feedback on student nonfiction writing related to the academic standard.

Examples of departmental plans include the following:

1. In communication arts, teachers collaborate in one of the following four teams:  1. Advanced Placement Vertical Team with teachers from all four levels of honors English classes focused on aligning writing expectations;  2. English IV team focused on embedding primary and secondary source materials effectively in nonfiction writing.       3. English III team focused on the alignment of the curriculum and ACT expectations on common assessments; and 4. Sport Literature team focused on the implementation of this new curriculum and common assessment development with embedded ACT like items.  
2. Science: The teacher teams seek to expand the successful focus on the scientific inquiry standard in 09-10 by implementing common inquiry labs, collaboratively scoring those labs, utilizing the resulting data adjust instruction, and aligning scoring practices within first and second year science courses.    
3. Fine Arts: After a successful year of implementing the new Intro to Art curriculum in 09-10, the department will continue its focus on assessing the concept of value in the fall semester and add the concept of unity in the spring semester.   The team will continue to incorporate multiple choice and PE questions on these higher order thinking skills in at least three assessments to measure students' abilities to understand and demonstrate mastery of this concept.  The nonfiction writing portion will be integrated through the continued development of a collaboratively designed and scored art criticism project.

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

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

• Each quarter we compare special education and regular education student learning data in CWC classes on common assessments each quarter to assess our progress towards closing the achievement gap between these groups of students. The special education teacher and the regular education teacher meet each quarter with a member of the administrative team to present results and discuss future action plans.
• All PLC groups administer one common summative exam and two common formative exams each semester which are entered into a Mastery Manager software system to aid in data collection. Based on the data, teachers form action plans.
• All PLC groups develop a student achievement goal based on a critical learning standard within their content areas. Teachers track and evaluate student progress toward mastering this learning standard on each of the three common assessments per semester using the Mastery Manager software.    
• Each quarter we track the percent of letter grades received in our PLC courses along with grade point average to assess whether we are decreasing our D’s and F’s. We also track the same data in regards to final exams given in those PLC courses.

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

• This year marks the third year of a weekly forty minute academic support homeroom that provides students opportunities to request additional support or enrichment from their teachers and participate in school or class-wide activities. As part of the homeroom, students set individual academic goals that their homeroom teachers help monitor at the end of each quarter. Our 9th grade mentoring program also convenes during this time.
• We have begun an elective credit course designed to provide direct instruction in a combination of study skills and communication arts, math, or science curriculum. This course provides additional instruction, remediation, and enrichment to enrolled ninth and tenth grade students in a content area in which they have historically been challenged.  
• Our district has allocated funds to support tutoring in Math and Communication Arts during the school day. We enlist the help of a subject certified tutor to assist classroom teachers on a regularly scheduled basis for 1–3 days per week.

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.

• The building administrator who oversees our school PLC organization meets monthly with the leaders from each PLC group. During these meetings, we share our PLC groups’ progress toward meeting PLC work product deadlines. We also provide our PLC leaders with ongoing professional development that is taken back to their groups which meet weekly for approximately 45 minutes.

List any Awards and Recognition Garnered by Your School

• FHHS met Adequate Yearly Progress achievement requirements in Math and Communication Arts in 03–04, 04–05, 08-09, and 09-10.
• 2007-8 Red Quill Award from ACT
• Missouri’s Top Ten Most Improved Schools in Communication Arts 04–05 and 05–06. 
• FHHS was awarded Missouri Accelerated Schools Outstanding Service Award for Professional Learning Communities in 2005.
• Current FHHS principal Dr. Chris Greiner was awarded the St. Louis Assistant Principal of the Year award in 2004.