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Our schoolwide focus is on learning rather than teaching. High expectations are set for students weekly. Students are required to read and pass a minimum of two Accelerated Reader tests weekly, be active participants in their learning and monitor and track their academic progress. Parents are encouraged to actively participate in their student's learning at home by reviewing homework assignments and graded work, consistently communicating with the teacher and regularly attend school activities.

Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen the ties to your community.

The most successful activity our school has initiated to strengthen the ties to the community is parental involvement. Over the last six years we have dramatically increased our parental involvement activities throughout each school year. The activities range from those of an academic nature, to social events. The teachers participate in professional development to learn about how they can guide parents to assist their child with homework, and be able to follow a daily schedule. Parents receive weekly progress reports and monthly newsletters with academic information and upcoming school events.
In addition, parents are invited to attend curriculum nights, to include, Literacy Night, Math/Science Night, and FCAT (test prep) night. During these parent meetings as well as on parent-teacher conference nights, the principal conducts “Chew and Chats” with parents to discuss their child’s Accelerated Reading (AR) expectation. Tangelo Park Elementary has a School Advisory Counsel (SAC)/Title 1 Committee that is comprised of educators, parents, and community members that meet monthly as an open forum to monitor the school improvement process and to increase student achievement.
The school provides opportunities for parents and teachers to meet quarterly to discuss student achievement. At these meetings, parents, teachers, and students sign Title 1 compacts to agree that all parties are focused on the academic and social achievement of the student. In addition, the teachers facilitate the development of the student growth plans, whereby the student reviews with the teacher their current progress and then sets achievement goals and writes an action plan on how to attain the goals. This process is completed each nine-week grading period.
As an outreach to new families that join our school community, the leadership team meets with each family to review the student’s academic status upon enrollment. The principal then purposefully places new students in classrooms so that they will excel socially and academically. An additional community partnership is the relationship we have with Lockheed Martin and our Read to Succeed program. These volunteers serve as mentors to students in the intermediate grades that need reading assistance and a positive community role model. Approximately, 40 mentors visit our students each week to read with them and be their personnel encourager. Lockheed Martin provides both human and financial resources for our school.

What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?

Excellence is the Only Option! This is our school’s mission and mantra. High expectations are required of all stakeholders. Teachers are held to a high performance level in the areas of instruction and student achievement. They are expected to collaboratively plan rigorous and meaningful lessons and delivery quality instruction using researched based practices to ensure that 100% of students make learning gains annually. Our schoolwide focus is on learning rather than teaching. High expectations are set for students weekly. Students are required to read and pass a minimum of two Accelerated Reader tests weekly, be active participants in their learning and monitor and track their academic progress. Parents are encouraged to actively participate in their student’s learning at home by reviewing homework assignments and graded work, consistently communicating with the teacher and regularly attend school activities.

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

The initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on our student achievement is our focus on brain-based learning. Dr. Marcia Tate, author of Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Instructional Strategies that Engage the Brain, has provided professional learning to our teachers so that they are able to plan for and implement brain-based strategies that address a variety of modalities. Over the last four years, we have continued to study her book increasing our skill level to mastery. No matter what classroom you enter you will see elements of brain-based learning to include, visualizing, graphic organizers, movement, reciprocal teaching, artwork, music, writing, drama, and hands on activities. Using these strategies has had a great impact on meeting the learning styles of all students. As a result of this initiative, students are observably more engaged and actively involved in the learning process. Our student achievement scores have increased over the last four years on standard measures despite increased passage length, greater complexity of text questions and the elevated cut score requirements for students to achieve grade level expectations. In addition, scores for schools to obtain the status of high achieving have been increased. Tangelo Park Elementary School continues to excel and meet the rising standards from our district and state.

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

In an elementary school setting, learning to read is the key to all learning. Our teachers have participated in professional learning in the area of reading on a weekly basis for five years. This training has included intensive study of guided reading, comprehension strategies, fluency, word structures, vocabulary, literacy centers, and oral language development. We begin each school day with a reading block that has evolved from 90 minutes to 120 minutes to integrate language arts content such as grammar, usage, spelling, and the writing process. Our teachers follow an instructional focus calendar in reading and language arts, grades K-5, which emphasizes specific comprehension skill units while sustaining skills in vocabulary and other reading and language arts state benchmarks. During this time of day, all hands are on deck- each classroom has an additional support teacher to provide literacy instruction. Every summer a group of teachers create or update existing content area plans for the school to follow in reading and language arts.
Since last year, our teachers have studied strategies outlined by Robert Marzano in his book The Art and Science of Teaching to provide a foundation in research-based pedagogy. Our instructional leader, the principal, facilitates this ongoing professional learning. Month to month we focus on specific aspects of student engagement, classroom rules and procedures, effective lessons, and overall relationships with students to enhance the teaching and learning process.
Our school has four content coaches: Reading/Language Arts, Math, Science, and an Instructional coach. Professional development classes are conducted weekly by one of the content coaches. Each week, the professional learning is customized for primary grade teachers (K-2) and intermediate grade teachers (3-5). The professional development is also differentiated this year as we phase in the Common Core Standards for the primary grades while sustaining the requirements of the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (Florida Curriculum) for the intermediate grades. All grade level Professional Learning Communities (PLC) meet weekly with the principal to ensure quality lessons are prepared. The principal provides feedback and suggestions during these meetings as well as during classroom observations.

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

Our teachers use data to improve student achievement and informed- decision making for instructional focus. Students are given content specific diagnostics tests in the beginning of the school year and as they enroll as students new to our school. The student’s achievement levels are then established and the student is given a “prescription” of academic intervention or enrichment to take the student to the next level of performance. We have implemented a school wide intervention/enrichment time each day where students are grouped by ability and grade level. Students are progressed monitored weekly and adjustments are made according to the data. The intervention or enrichment teacher communicates with the classroom teacher about student progress, on an ongoing basis, so that students may accelerate their learning to grade level and above as soon as possible.
Formal benchmark testing is administered in the intermediate grades (3-5) three times a year, and these results are analyzed for learning trends in reading, math and science by grade level as well as to provide feedback on the academic progress in these areas for each individual student. Mini benchmark assessments in reading and math are given every other week as per the instructional focus calendar. On Tuesdays, teachers meet in their PLC to discuss grade level testing data, and to share strategies that worked or did not work based on the data. This aligns with the Florida Continuous Improvement Model (FCIM) to plan, take action, and assess teaching and learning. The teachers also conduct test talks with students to review results and discuss what students need to do to reach grade level expectations. Teachers differentiate their instructional strategies to sustain the academic strengths of students while improving areas of growth as needed.

• Category 1

  Selected in 2012

• Grades: pre k - 5
  School Setting: urban
  Town Population: 243,195
  Student Enrollment: 349
  Student Demographics:
  

  Black/African American: 76%
  White/Caucasian: 22%
  Hispanic: 0%
  Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 1%
  Asian: 1%
  Native American: 0%
  Other: 0%
  

  Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:22
  % Reduced Lunch: 90%
  % ELL Learners: 19%
  Founded: 1964
• PRINCIPAL:
  Tashanda Brown-Cannon
• CONTACT:
  5115 Anzio Street
  Orlando, FL 32819
  407-354-2630
  brownt5@ocps.net