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Although we receive very little Title I money, we are able to use the funds to pay half the salary of the teacher who provides intervention services for students in grades K-4. She is able to work directly with the students scoring the lowest on screening assessments. Many of these students are able to reach grade level benchmarks by the end of the school year.

Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.

Our school philosophy is that of teacher leadership and shared decision-making. Leadership is not one person’s responsibility. We are a tam and everyone is a key player. All staff members are involved in creating the school’s goals for the year, which include our commitments we are willing to make to help us reach them. Everyone knows what must be done and what each individual must do.
Each team (K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and Essentials) has a Team Leader who meets with the Principal very two weeks to discuss school issues make decisions, and decide what tams need to do. Team Leaders meet with their teams once a week during common planning time and once a month after school. Teams also function as Professional Learning Communities and discuss student needs and make decisions about appropriate interventions for student progress. Individual student achievement is carefully monitored by the PLCs and documented by the Team Leader.
The school also has several other teams that manage particular school needs, such as: Student Assistance Team; School Safety Team; Wellness Team; Gifted and Talented Committee; and Professional Development Committee. So all staff members share in the responsibility of our school life and the decisions and implementation of any change.

What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?

We have one major goal for the 2012-2013 school year. "To continue implementation of standards-based education K-8 at Hope Elementary School."
We then broke down the work into three areas: Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.
Under Curriculum we’re using the Common Core standards to clarify our expectations in Math and Literacy, and implementing our new Common Core aligned Math programs K-8.
Under Instruction we’re looking at the Common Core standards in Literacy and aligning our instructional strategies in ALL classes to increase rigor, better understand text complexity, balance literary and informational texts, increase opportunities for evidence-based writing, and increase instruction in academic vocabulary. We’re also looking at becoming more skilled at providing formative feedback to students that will increase their learning.
Under assessment we’re looking at formative and summative assessments that will best determine student learning of standards, and how we can best prepare for the 2015 implementation of Smarter Balance Assessments (3-8).

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

There are actually two simultaneous changes that were made to our school that have made the greatest impact in student achievement. The first was the transformation of our grade cluster teams (K-2, 3-5, and 6-8) to Professional Learning Communities with the focus on data and student learning...and what to do when students don’t learn.
The second change was the implementation of Response to Intervention. With the assistance of a teacher and an Ed. Tech, we are able to assess all students at least three times a year to screen for those struggling to reach grade level benchmarks or grade level expectations...and then they assist the classroom teacher by providing small group or one-on-one re-teaching and then progress monitoring. With the goal to have the child become independently successful with grade level work.
We may service more students with this model, but it occurs before they fail and our identified SPED students has been reduced from 20% to 11%.

Explain how Title I funds have supported your improvement efforts.

Although we receive very little Title I money, we are able to use the funds to pay half the salary of the teacher who provides intervention services for students in grades K-4. She is able to work directly with the students scoring the lowest on screening assessments. Many of these students are able to reach grade level benchmarks by the end of the school year.

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

Our school’s Professional Development is focused on our goals for the year. Through data analysis and conversation we determine which are the most pressing needs then we develop our plan for the year...staff committee. This year we will continue our work on developing subject area Essential learning Outcomes (ELOs) based upon the Common Core State Standards, but we will also look at how we teach and assess.
We also have the gift of eight workshop days and five early release days to develop standards, identify assessments to determine learning, design and complete reports for parents, and meet with parents to help them better understand their child’s learning profile. This is truly what professional development should be...identify a need, pull resources together, and make it happen! This is probably one of the major reasons we have been as successful as we have been, because we have the time to do the work and do it well.

• Category 2

  Selected in 2012

• Grades: k - 8
  School Setting: rural
  Town Population: 1,671
  Student Enrollment: 175
  Student Demographics:
  

  Black/African American: 1%
  White/Caucasian: 95%
  Hispanic: 2%
  Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
  Asian: 2%
  Native American: 0%
  Other: 0%
  

  Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:18
  % Reduced Lunch: 37%
  % ELL Learners: 0%
  Founded: 1939
• PRINCIPAL:
  Carol Hathorne
• CONTACT:
  34 Highfield Road
  Hope, ME 04847
  207-785-4081
  carol_hathorne@fivetowns.net