• Discipline Rates
• Quarterly Assessment scores - English
• Quarterly Assessment scores - Mathematics
• Fountas and Pinnell (F+P) Data
• PARCC Scores - Mathematics (Elementary grades 3, 4, 5)
• PARCC Scores - English/Language Arts (Elementary grades 3, 4, 5)

Key Challenge #1: Discipline Rates

Past MDS3 (Maryland Safe and Orderly Schools Survey) data indicated that student behavior has been a challenge, and the POES staff has been working hard to develop programs and strategies to improve in this area. During the 2017-2018 school year, 74 discipline referrals were submitted. The majority of referrals were for disrespect and disruption to the classroom/school environment. In 2017-18, only 44% of students and 42% of staff responded that “students obey the rules.” There was also a perception among staff that undesirable behaviors were not handled effectively either through appropriate consequences (37%) or communication with parents/guardians when a student misbehaves (86%). 

Regular use of Community Circles has been beneficial to relationship building at Piney Orchard Elementary, and a positive behavior referral program has been added. Teachers enjoy focusing on positive behaviors, and students enjoy hearing their names over the announcements as recognition of their social-emotional achievements. Our community partnership with Children’s Guild has also enabled students, who might not have access to mental health services, to learn strategies and receive support with effectively managing emotions that may have previously led to office referrals. The result being an  increase in the amount of time that students are social-emotionally available for learning on a daily basis. 

During the 2018-19 school year, 51 discipline referrals were submitted, 23 fewer than the previous year. The majority of discipline referrals were for disruption to the classroom/school environment and unsafe actions.  While the ESSA Climate Survey data is not yet available for 2018-19, informal climate survey data collected by the School Improvement Team indicated that 100% of the staff surveyed felt supported by administration in managing student behaviors. (Indicators 2, 4, 11) 

Key Challenge #2: Math

State assessment data has shown that school performance is higher than state and district averages, and a large percentage of our students are proficient or approaching proficiency in math. Nonetheless, our scores are stagnant. The PARCC scores of students who met or exceeded expectations in math decreased by 5% in third grade and by 6% in fourth grade. Fifth grade scores showed slight growth by 3%. POES staff believe that our students have the ability to perform better than the scores indicate. 

The staff at Piney Orchard Elementary are focused on helping students increase their ability to communicate mathematically, and execute computation skills with fluency. Students often work in small groups to share ideas or strategies prior to writing down their answers, using the language of math in their responses. For teaching problem solving, our teachers consistently utilize the Concrete, Representational, Abstract (C-R-A) model. Increased use of math manipulatives (concrete stage) during instruction helps students understand math concepts using a hands on approach, and all students have access to a variety of manipulatives to solve problems and demonstrate reasoning.  As students solve increasingly complex or abstract problems, they sometimes have to go back to using a more concrete model and/or draw pictures (representational stage) to help solve the problem. Teachers have begun to utilize the Select-Sequence-Connect strategy, where student work is used as a springboard to engage students in class discussions that promote mathematical thinking. Strategies such as these ensure that students know a variety of ways to solve problems in a variety of formats and can communicate their thinking effectively. (Indicator 6) 

Key Challenge #3: Reading

Piney Orchard Elementary current student performance in reading and language arts has begun to decrease or has remained virtually unchanged. Most notably, the percentage of 3rd grade students who met or exceeded performance expectations on PARCC in grade 3 decreased by 13%. We have also noted some achievement gaps between our African-American students and those of other races. However, at Piney Orchard Elementary, the gaps in achievement among students are more closely related to socio-economic status than race. End of the year Fountas and Pinnell (F+P) reading assessment data shows that 25% of POES students receiving Free and Reduced Meal Service (FARMS) did not meet grade level benchmarks. While 65% of our students receiving FARMS did meet or exceed grade level benchmarks, 89% of students who did not receive FARMS met or exceeded benchmarks. There is still much work to be done to ensure all students are reading at or above grade level by the end of 2nd grade.

We are striving to build a culture of literacy at our school, and encourage our students to read for fun and to gain information, so that reading can be an enjoyable lifetime practice. The POES library collection has been developed to provide access to a variety of texts that allow students to explore other cultural or ethnic perspectives, as well as to learn more about their own culture. Book clubs and Literacy Luncheons allow students to discuss texts with one another in an informal setting. Instructionally, we strive to ensure reading and writing strategies are integrated throughout all content areas, and teachers infuse the use of technology so that students can construct written responses in multiple ways. We are also focused on helping students utilize multiple texts in research and reading comprehension. One sign that we are on the right track is that recent F+P assessment data indicates that 85% of all our students in Grades K-5 are either meeting or exceeding grade level expectations in reading. (Indicators 4, 5, 6, 11)

• Socio-Economic Issues (employment, income levels, housing costs)
• Student Mobility
• Families in Crisis (mental, physical emotional, financial)

• Significant changes over time in student/community demographics
• Access (or lack of access) to community health-related programs