Henderson Elementary School

 

School Information

School Name:  Henderson Elementary School
School Address: 2501 Hackmann Road, St. Charles, MO 63303
School Phone: 636.851.5200
School Fax: 636.851.4131
Principal: Jennette Barker, Ed. D.
Principal Email: jennette.barker@fhsdschools.org
Web Address: http://www.fhsdschools.org/henderson

2011 Demographics

Number of Students: 521
Percent Eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch:12.5%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: less than 1%
Percent of Special Education:12%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White: 91.4%
• Black: 4.8%
• Hispanic: 1.5%
• Other: 1.7%

 

Student Achievement Data:

Percentage of students passing with proficient and advanced marks: school scores/state scores. Data from the Missouri Assessment Program.

Grade 3	Math	Communication Arts
2008	57/44	46/41
2009	59/45	43/41
2010	62/48	52/44

 

Grade 4	Math	Communication Arts
2008	55/45	45/46
2009	54/45	54/47
2010	68/49	73/52

 

Grade 5	Math	Communication Arts	Science
2008	66/46	60/49	N/A
2009	60/48	62/49	46/45
2010	65/52	66/52	59/48

 

Please comment on any aspect of the data that you believe is particularly significant.

2010 vs 2009 Building MAP Data Results - Communication Arts

• 9.3% gain in proficiency
• Free and Reduced Lunch student gain of 7.3%, highest total % proficient FRL (40.6%)

2010 vs 2009 Building MAP Data Results - Math

• 6.3% gain in Mathematics
• 7.4 % Mathematics gains in Free and Reduced Lunch students
• 6.7% gain IEP (Special Education ) students
• 5th year in a row, exceeding AYP

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

Henderson Elementary has been implementing the Professional Learning Community philosophy for 7 years.  The school’s success using the PLC process can be attributed to a few things.  First, administrators insisted on having a high percentage of  buy-in before committing to implementing the process. Second, through shared leadership, every grade level and department had at least one PLC Leader who was given extensive training and in turn used faculty meetings and professional development time to guide the faculty in terms of defining PLC’s and what they will look like. These facilitations took place over an entire school year.  By the time we were ready to actually begin the process; we were all well versed on the philosophy. Faculty meetings, professional development, and grade level PLC meetings have shifted from being focused on teachers and events, to being focused on student achievement and all around academic success.  Finally, teachers in leadership roles were encouraged to give feedback to administration regarding the change process. This allowed leaders to meet teachers ‘where they are’ and guide overall growth.

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

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Students are assessed both formatively and summatively on a regular basis in math and communication arts. Using various assessments and the accompanying data allow teachers to get a picture of the whole student. For example, in communication arts, we have a quarterly building writing goal, benchmark reading assessments, quarterly program reading assessments, and weekly assessments using higher level thinking skills. Looking at individual pieces of the data gives teachers an adequate look at student performance. However, looking at all the all pieces gives teachers a ‘big picture’ view of each students needs.

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

While elementary teachers intervene independently with students throughout the school day, it is more difficult to implement a structured intervention system. Henderson teachers and administrators have developed a plan that allows for data based interventions to take place on a daily basis. For thirty minutes daily, all classes have Intervention  or “Soar” time.  During this time, all faculty (classroom teachers, special education teachers, librarian, reading specialist, etc.) work with students to fill learning gaps.  These groups of students are formed by grade level intervention teams (grade level teachers and other teachers assigned to that grade level) analyzing data and finding strategies that meet the students needs. Student success is monitored by using data and observation as well.  These groups are flexible, meaning students may move in and out of intervention groups based on their needs.  This is the third year of Intervention or “Soar” time at Henderson.

3. Building teacher capacity to work as members of high performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students.

Henderson teachers use a minimum of one, 60 minute plan time a week to meet together in order to go through the 4 PLC questions. This time is spent aligning curriculum maps to district and state expectations, creating assessments and lessons that go along with those expectations, and creating lessons and strategies to use for students who already meet the expectations or do not meet expectations after instruction.

Norms are reviewed at various times throughout the year. Celebrations and status checks help team members get an emotional read on participants.
While these meetings are the backbone of the PLC process at Henderson, there are also other opportunities for teachers to collaborate. Many grade levels meet a second time each week in order to plan lessons together. Professional development time is used to support student achievement strategies and programs. Faculty meetings allow time for teachers to meet in vertical teams to look at student work, analyze assessments, create scoring guides and discuss various expectations of grade levels. During these meetings, teachers are able to reflect on their own students as well as former students and students who will be in their grade level in the future. Teachers often have ‘Ah-Ha” moments when writing samples or other work from various grade levels is shared. These faculty meetings have has a huge impact on student expectations and the flow of learning that is taking place at Henderson.

 

List awards and recognitions your school has achieved

• 2006 Top Ten in State Proficiency Scores for 3rd grade math results
• Published a best practice “Let’s Read for our Heroes” in the 2010 edition of National Network of Partnership Schools, Johns Hopkins University
• 2004 – Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Exemplary Physical Education Program
• Multi-year – Top 10 Jump Rope for (American) Heart (Association)