• Category 2

    Selected in 2014

  • Grades: pre k - 6
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 800,000
    Student Enrollment: 700
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 6%
    White/Caucasian: 65%
    Hispanic: 24%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 5%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:25
    % Reduced Lunch: 88%
    % ELL Learners: 24%
    Founded: 1968
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Moira Clark
  • CONTACT:
    1643 S. Dunlap Ave
    Indianapolis, IN 46241
    317-988-6600
    moira.clark@wayne.k12.in.us
Maplewood Elementary School
Indianapolis, IN
Maplewood is a positive, nurturing environment where staff builds strong relationships with students and sets high expectations.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Maplewood improved parent communication by holding monthly parent events that include celebrations, data conversations, and a literacy component and sending regular communciation home to explain expectations and publicize progress.We made our data transparent so that the whole school community understands it and takes ownership of it.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
School change and improvement is always continuous. Our staff is never satisfied with the current results. We believe that all stakeholders must accept responsibility for continuous improvement. This improvement must be systematic and based upon data. Using data effectively to make instructional decisions is the key to improved student achievement. All members of the school environment take ownership for their data and set goals for improvement. We work collaboratively to solve problems and recognize that we must know the strengths and weaknesses of every students in order to ensure their success.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
Our first goal is to continue to evaluate our daily objectives to ensure that they contain the DOK necessary for high achievement. As we look at pre-assessment data, we will determine what supports students need at higher levels of DOK. This will help us reach our second goal which is to have over 80% of all students proficient in both Language Arts and Math.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
Focused walkthroughs have been an effective way to improve teaching and learning. The administrators participated in professional development in order to give teachers focused feedback to improve their instruction. In addition, the staff developer in the building takes frequent "snapshot data" for the building and grade levels. This data is compiled and used by the administration to determine needed professional development. Lastly, teachers learn from each other through instructional rounding.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
Teachers at Maplewood collaborate daily using data from formative and summative assessments. The summative assessments are used building wide to determine interventions and extension for all students. The leadership team closely analyzes the summative assessments to make instructional decisions across grade levels. This ensures strong vertical progression of the curriculum. Grade level teams and interventionists use daily formative assessments to drive daily lesson plans providing the appropriate supports for differentiation that are needed so that all students can be sucessful independently.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Maplewood is a positive, nurturing environment where staff builds strong relationships with students and sets high expectations. The staff implemented a building wide positive support system that is clearly understood by all stakeholders. Staff receive professional development to create rigorous objectives for learning. Collaboration time is focused on analyzing data and using formative assessments to guide instruction.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2014

  • Grades: pre k - 6
    School Setting: urban
    Town Population: 800,000
    Student Enrollment: 700
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 6%
    White/Caucasian: 65%
    Hispanic: 24%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 0%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 5%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:25
    % Reduced Lunch: 88%
    % ELL Learners: 24%
    Founded: 1968
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Moira Clark
  • CONTACT:
    1643 S. Dunlap Ave
    Indianapolis, IN 46241
    317-988-6600
    moira.clark@wayne.k12.in.us