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Many opportunities exist for students to be involved and for staff to connect with students and families and the community. Parent and community involvement with Columbia Ridge is strong and only gets stronger each year. Student led parent teacher conferences happen twice a year. Students not only show their work, but they show their progress monitoring folders.

Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.

Many opportunities exist for students to be involved and for staff to connect with students and families and the community. Parent and community involvement with Columbia Ridge is strong and only gets stronger each year. Student led parent teacher conferences happen twice a year. Students not only show their work, but they show their progress monitoring folders. Building-level parent meetings are held, along with district-level Parent Advisory Committee meetings to share out information, gain input on programs and continually enlist the support of parents. Our parent group has told us they want us to focus on academics. We have many parent volunteers, college student tutors, and our neighboring High School provides student assistants to help provide additional instructional support. Our community is involved with various business members coming in to classes to read their favorite books during Dr. Seuss’ Birthday celebration. The school and district work closely with the City of Ephrata and various service groups as evidenced by the recent volunteer effort to install an $85,000 playground which we received in spring, 2012 from efforts of a jointly-written city and school and district grant.

Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement.

The path to higher student achievement began when staff studied the Washington K-12 Reading Model. From this common knowledge and further research, grew the recognized need for and commitment to 90 minute reading blocks. Our Schoolwide goal was for every student to leave 2nd grade reading 90 words per minute accurately. Many resources were invested into supporting this goal: the purchase of mastery-based Read-Well curriculum materials, push-in paraprofessional support into grades K-2, monthly progress monitoring toward the 90 wcpm goal, and Late Start Monday PLC meetings held each Monday where teachers and the Reading Specialist met to discuss and monitor student progress with interventions provided for those not on target. The intensity of support continued into grades three and four with the district purchase of a new Reading Curriculum in 2009 aligned to the GLE’s, professional development to teach the program with fidelity, the purchase of intervention materials, and frequent monitoring. Teachers also spent time utilizing MSP stem questions as well as MSP practice materials.
To fully believe in “High Expectations for All,” we needed to know at what level our students were performing (data), what our grade-level targets were (MSP and CCSS alignment), what we were using to get our students there (curriculum), how we were going to get them there (instructional strategies and curriculum resources) and what we were going to use for accountability (assessment). Every fall, the principal shared MSP trend, strand and cell group data with all staff. There were no excuses – we looked at data for the purpose of celebrating successes and identifying challenges and then working on helping students overcome them. We knew students were having difficulty accessing information due to limited vocabulary. A data-driven decision was a school-wide focus on emphasizing vocabulary in all content areas. Another focus and reality was to, “Get a book into each student’s hands each night.” Throughout the year, DIBELS progress monitoring, analysis of NWEA data to identify student strengths and weaknesses, formative classroom assessments, student and teacher tracking of progress, and differentiated instruction (leveled readers, one-on-one support, small group, extra time, etc.) were strategies used to get students closer to their targets. Our process was cyclical: screen, diagnose, intervene with targeted instructional strategies, assess, make decisions, and begin the process again.

With every intentional effort we make, we do so based on research, development of a plan and continual, deliberate evaluation and adjustment of the plan. A philosophical and working understanding of differentiation and Response to Intervention, and implementation of effective interventions continues to become stronger. Fidelity of instruction of Read Well and Storytown reading curriculum, LETRES training, and longer reading blocks have garnered anticipated results. Implementation of all-day kindergarten programming has allowed for continuity of efforts as we have seen more and more kindergarten students entering school with fewer readiness-to-learn skills. GLAD training and implementation of these instructional strategies have provided teachers with a common instructional foundation, with a strong focus on language acquisition and vocabulary development, especially with Tier III vocabulary. We know students need to be reflective and need to take ownership of their efforts and progress, so student portfolios are evident in classrooms and used during student-led conferences. Most students know their targets, know how they are doing in relation to the target, and know what they need to do to get to their target.

Other-funded support in the form of para-professionals pushing into classrooms provides for small group instruction and one-to-one interventions. Our bilingual para-educator works closely with teachers to help front-load content vocabulary and concepts, and other- funded para-professionals provide necessary readiness-to-learn support in our kindergartens. Additionally, the development of a Schoolwide Positive Behavior culture leads to reduced time out of class for behavior thereby increasing instructional time.

Explain how Title I funds have supported your improvement efforts.

Title I funds have been used to provide the following:


Personnel:
-1.0 FTE Reading Specialist
-Title I Reading paraeducators
-Substitute costs to allow teachers to attend Professional Development opportunities
Professional Development:
 LETRES training,
 6-Trait Workshops,
 On-line RTI Class through BER,
 Grades 3-5 Summer Conference,
 Incredibly Fun Visual Phonics Strategies,
 RTI-PLC Summer Institute,
 Love and Logic Conference,
 1st and 2nd Grade Conference in Renton through BER,
 Alignment days for grades 2, 3, and 4,
 Mimio interactive whiteboard training
 Formative Assessment training and support with district coach for gr. 3 and 4,

 Positive Behavior Instructional Support (PBIS),

 GLAD Training,

 Origo Math Training,

 Book Studies: Classroom Instruction that Works and Lost at School

Equipment Purchases:
 Mimio Interactive Whiteboards

 Classroom Response Systems

• RedCat Amplification Units for each classroom

 Color Printer and Cartridges to support GLAD Trained teachers’ use of a designated GLAD printer

Curriculum Support Materials:

 Storytown Reading Curriculum Intervention Support Materials

 Readwell Reading Materials

 Dibels Database for fluency monitoring for grades K-4

 4th Grade American Thesaurus purchased to support reading and writing

Partnerships with parents/families/communities:

 Scholastic Books purchases

 Reading Rewards/Awards to support student efforts

 Love and Logic Class taught by teachers for parents

 Love and Logic Parent Materials

Additional Support:

 Contracted SES Tutoring

• After School Math Program for students not at grade-level benchmark

Identify the professional development activities you use to improve the teaching portion of the teaching and learning process.

Columbia Ridge teachers are life-long learners. They search out and attend relevant trainings and bring back and share with their colleagues, critical information which helps the collective group.
Besides out-of-district trainings about PBIS, Common Core, RTI and Differentiation, teachers also participate in district-offered trainings. A district emphasis has been to have all elementary teachers GLAD trained and these instructional strategies have made a tremendous impact in the number of students engaged and learning as reported anecdotally by students and teachers. Our district whiteboard trainer teaches in the building so she is able to provide daily support and provide after-school trainings to help teachers use technology to increase student engagement with vocabulary and content comprehension. We will continue to strengthen reading lessons, and will use similar technology strategies to develop highly engaging math lessons. All-school book studies have helped in establishing and maintaining the common focus and consistent vocabulary. Teams of 3-4 teachers take a chapter to read and then summarize and teach the chapter content to other staff during staff meetings.

Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.

To fully believe in “High Expectations for All,” we needed to know at what level our students were performing (data), what our grade-level targets were (MSP and CCSS alignment), what we were using to get our students there (curriculum), how we were going to get them there (instructional strategies and curriculum resources) and what we were going to use for accountability (assessment). Every fall, the principal shared MSP trend, strand and cell group data with all staff. There were no excuses – we looked at data for the purpose of celebrating successes and identifying challenges and then working on helping students overcome them. We knew students were having difficulty accessing information due to limited vocabulary. A data-driven decision was a school-wide focus on emphasizing vocabulary in all content areas. Another focus and reality was to, “Get a book into each student’s hands each night.” Throughout the year, DIBELS progress monitoring, analysis of NWEA data to identify student strengths and weaknesses, formative classroom assessments, student and teacher tracking of progress, and differentiated instruction (leveled readers, one-on-one support, small group, extra time, etc.) were strategies used to get students closer to their targets. Our process was cyclical: screen, diagnose, intervene with targeted instructional strategies, assess, make decisions, and begin the process again.

• Category 1

  Selected in 2012

• Grades: k - 4
  School Setting: rural
  Town Population: 7,800
  Student Enrollment: 412
  Student Demographics:
  

  Black/African American: 1%
  White/Caucasian: 60%
  Hispanic: 35%
  Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
  Asian: 0%
  Native American: 1%
  Other: 3%
  

  Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:17.9
  % Reduced Lunch: 69.7%
  % ELL Learners: 20%
  Founded: 1951
• PRINCIPAL:
  Scott Monson
• CONTACT:
  60 H ST SE
  Ephrata, WA 98823
  509-754-2882
  smonson@ephrataschools.org