Key Challenge #1:  PARCC Scores - English Language Arts, Mathematics

As an IB World School, we believe in grouping students heterogeneously. Therefore, as educators, we are continuously developing differentiation strategies to meet all of our students at their individual academic levels.  Our goal is to build our capacity with differentiating for all levels in our classrooms, in order to meet the needs of all of our diverse learners.  

While our overall objective is to increase the scores for all students on the Partnership for Assessment for College and Career Readiness (PARCC) assessments, our data indicates that our students that receive Free and Reduced Meals (FARMS), our students that receive English Language Acquisition (ELA) services, and students that receive Special Education services are not performing as well as their peers on these standardized assessments. The results for our PARCC assessment for the 2016-17 school year showed that only 28% of our FARMS students scored at Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs) 4 or 5, which is an indication of students meeting or exceeding grade level expectations. . On the same assessment, 0% of our ELA students scored at PLD 4 or 5 and 21% of our Special Education students scored at PLD 4 or 5. Therefore, we have created an action step in our School Improvement Plan (SIP) that will allow us to put an intentional, laser focus on these students. 

Our monthly professional development sessions will be aligned to this action step, and will allow us to analyze the data and monitor our progress with our intentional actions.  We have also created a Parent Involvement Committee to work with the parents of our special education students in order to build the home-school connection at a deeper level, and to seek to make all events at school accessible to their child.
(Indicators 1 and 6)  

Key Challenge #2:  Inclusion and Accessibility for Special Education Students 

As mentioned previously, Waugh Chapel Elementary houses two Alternate Curriculum Classrooms as well as the self-contained special education classroom for the Arundel  Cluster.  Connections between students are to be made throughout the day; and the goal is for our special education students to seamlessly transition from their classrooms to the mainstream classrooms.  The challenge being that our special education students may have limited access to learning and instruction, as a result of their specific disability. Accessibility is a must and we are making strides in overcoming this challenge to benefit ALL of our students.  We welcome all of the opportunities that these special education programs bring to Waugh Chapel Elementary, and we want to ensure that our special education students always feel that they belong and are a valued part of our school community.  (Indicators 1, 2 and 6)

Key Challenge #3:  Social and Emotional Learning 

The majority of our Waugh Chapel students come to school each day ready to learn. However, we continue to see more and more students with increased social-emotional challenges. Therefore, we are working to implement strategies and programs to support our students and to meet their social and emotional needs. We began with the implementation of Morning Meetings in every classroom in order to build relationships, and we also have Guidance groups that take place to assist with specific needs.  In addition, we are continuing our own professional learning as a staff to build capacity on all disabilities, including an “invisible disability” which manifests itself in many different ways in the room.  The “invisible disability” can be defined as an emotional disability, ADHD, autism or any other disability that causes some behaviors that could be misconstrued or misunderstood completely.  

Through our Morning Meetings, we are teaching the IB learner profiles, attitudes, and attributes, as well as acceptance and compassion. These daily meetings give us the opportunity to build relationships and create an atmosphere of “learning readiness”.  Moreover, we utilize brain breaks throughout the day,  recess, and time in the outdoor classroom to maintain a healthy balance of work and play.  (Indicators 1, 2 and 3)