Mountain Valley Middle School

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1 Campus Ratings for Mountain Valley Middle School Background Information Community & Student Engagement Under House Bill 5 (passed last year by the 83 rd Texas Legislature), all districts are required to evaluate the district s performance and the performance of each campus in regard to community and student engagement. Districts must assign one of four performance ratings Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable or Unacceptable to the district and each campus for overall performance, including the following categories: Fine arts; Wellness and physical education; Community and parental involvement; 21 st Century Workforce Development program; Second language acquisition program; Digital learning environment; Dropout prevention strategies; and Educational programs for gifted and talented students. House Bill 5 requires a local committee or committees to determine the criteria that the district uses to evaluate and assign performance ratings and to evaluate the district s compliance with statutory reporting and policy requirements. In Comal Independent School District, the District Educational Improvement Council (DEIC) developed the rating criteria and the campus sitebased decision-making (SBDM) teams determined the ratings for each category. Under House Bill 5, districts must post the ratings and compliance status for the district and each campus on the school district s website by August 8, 2014.

2 Mountain Valley Middle School Comal Independent School District Campus Mission: Mountain Valley Middle School will establish a climate of excellence and a winning tradition through collaboration, critical thinking, accountability, and perseverance. Campus Vision: Learning for all...no exceptions, no excuses. These ratings were determined by combining the evaluation scores from all members of the SBDM and administrative teams. Overall Campus Ratings Overall Community & Student Engagement Rating -- Acceptable Fine Arts Wellness & Physical Education Community & Parental Involvement 21 st Century Workforce Development Second Language Acquisition Programs Digital Learning Environment Dropout Prevention Strategies Education Program for Gifted & Talented Students History of Compliance Yes, in Compliance 2 P a g e

3 Fine Arts Community & Student Engagement Mountain Valley Middle School offers a variety of fine arts courses such as guitar class, varying levels of art, theater arts, band and choir. In addition, our dance team members receive dance technique instruction free of charge one night a week outside of their scheduled team practices. Our fine arts staff are highly qualified in their field, attend district provided staff development, as well as conferences specific to their field held by professional organizations. Fine arts teachers currently use the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) to guide their instructional focus and look forward to implementing the Comal Independent School District Fine Arts unit maps which will be in place during the school year. Artwork is visible in multiple areas on campus, was submitted for the annual art showcase and was on display at central office this year. We do not, however, have artwork on the district's virtual gallery. Fine arts is listed in the Campus Improvement Plan specifically focusing on a combined fine arts experience in the community open to the public. Our grade levels are exposed to the fine arts through attendance at pep rallies which provides exposure to band, dance and cheer, and through roaming performances during the holidays by our choir and guitar students. Students have an opportunity to attend theater, dance, choir and band performances throughout the year. Our students did not participate in the 2014 Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) due to a change in personnel mid-year, however plans are in place for our students to participate next year. Though we have not determined participation in sequential fine arts instruction, or in multiple courses, our participation in school year was high with 643 students enrolled in the fall and 634 enrolled in the spring. Overall Fine Arts Rating -- Acceptable Variety of fine arts activities available during and after school Fine arts certifications and professional development Instruction based on fine arts TEKS and CISD Tiered and Aligned Curriculum Evidence of student artwork in classrooms, hallways, and in art shows at Support Services and throughout the district Leadership and community building though fine arts Student participation in cultural development and community arts partnership events Number of Fine Arts content areas participating in competitions including events sponsored by UIL and VASE Enrollment in sequential fine arts instruction 3 P a g e

4 Wellness & Physical Education Healthy choices instruction takes place through Physical Education and Health classes at Mountain Valley Middle School. Opportunities to participate in voluntary health and wellness events outside of school are communicated throughout the school year, however participation has been limited. The monetary and time requirements to attend events limits participation for some, as does the travel requirements due to the large geographic area we serve. MVMS students participate in academic, fine arts and athletic University Interscholastic League (UIL) activities throughout the school year. Our nurse and counselors are well-educated in their fields, participate in annual training and are always available to our students and families. Our counselors' priorities are to the social and emotional needs of our students. While their additional required responsibilities such as Response to Intervention (RtI), testing, master schedule development and registration take time, they consistently focus on student needs first. Our campus and counselors are committed to ensuring quality character education by providing instruction through 6th and 7th grade PE classes. These lessons focus on the CISD character traits and are developed and taught by our counselors in the fall semester. The weekly spring semester character lessons were presented by Connections counseling services who tailor their healthy living and positive choices curriculum to align with our CISD character traits. Overall Wellness & Physical Education -- Acceptable Opportunities to learn about making healthy life choices are provided Participation in voluntary health and wellness events Participation in UIL-sponsored competitions Availability of school nurses Availability of school counselors Character education evidenced as part of campus culture 4 P a g e

5 Community & Parental Involvement While we strive to meet the needs of our parents by holding parent meetings focusing on topics important to parents of middle school students, and by varying the time by alternating morning and evening times, our parent meeting attendance has been significantly low. Mountain Valley Middle School experienced a strong Watch D.O.G.S. implementation and our Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has several members who are consistent in their school involvement. Our PTA has coordinated and worked the three MVMS dances, which serve as PTA fundraisers, as well as our 8 th grade end of the year celebration. Our Parent Support Specialist has been instrumental in coordinating an average of three to four Thursday parent volunteers who help our teachers with various lesson activity preparations and in-class support. Our MVMS Parent Support Specialist has partnered with the Parent Support Specialists in our feeder pattern to hold multiple joint evening parenting events. These have included parent meetings focusing on parenting students with any disability, technology and teens, and facilitating a positive mindset in teens. Our campus student organization sponsors have worked with their student groups to coordinate canned food drives, coat drives, river clean up and more, all to support our community. While we excel in providing multiple opportunities to be involved, we need to identify the barriers in place that contribute to our low parent turn out. Overall Community & Parental Involvement -- Recognized Percent of campus enrollment with parent volunteers who participate in campus activities Number of campus activities that are partnered with community volunteers Number of campus activities that give back to the community Number of campus activities designed to encourage parent participation 5 P a g e

6 21 st Century Workforce Development Program Connecting learning to real world application is an area we are continuing to strengthen, as is evident by our PowerWalk classroom walkthrough data. Mountain Valley Middle School teachers will Community & Student Engagement continue to focus on highlighting real world connections throughout the upcoming school year. Career exploration is a component of several classes, including our required 7 th grade Exploring Careers class, campus wide College Week, Principles of Manufacturing and Principles of Human Services. Throughout the school year, our 7 th grade AVID students were exposed to various local colleges through research and site visits. All MVMS students are exposed to various college opportunities through speech classes, Exploring Careers class and College Week activities designed for each grade level. Our Texas Education Agency (TEA) STaR Chart data shows that 100% of our teachers participated in the survey, which provides input and feedback on the integration of technology in the classroom teaching and learning environment. Overall 21 st Century Workforce Development Program -- Recognized Number of students participating in real-world experiences Opportunities for career exploration Exposure to colleges and universities Participation in TEA STaR Chart Identification of students for the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program 6 P a g e

7 Second Language Acquisition Programs Mountain Valley Middle School s English Language Learners (ELL) are continuing to improve their language acquisition as is evident in their state Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) and State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) scores. Our staff participated in Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) training and ESL Academy training throughout the school year and implemented these strategies when needed. Our ESL teacher has developed a collaborative relationship with teachers across content areas and provides feedback through her in-class support and through collaborative lesson planning. Parents of ELL students have been encouraged to participate in the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC) training and meetings, and Spanish speaking parents of 8 th grade ELLs were personally invited to attend an 8 th grade endorsement meeting held in Spanish to learning about the new options and requirements for high school graduation. We have not previously focused on developing parent/student involvement activities and opportunities for our Spanish-speaking parents to participate in, but now we recognize the power in doing so. Our campus currently has one member on a CISD second language acquisition program task force. Overall Second Language Acquisition Programs -- Recognized Implementation of second language acquisition programs and progress toward meeting program goals Participation in professional development offered for second language programs Collaboration among teachers during QILT time to align instruction Availability of resources and materials in languages of program Number of campus activities designed to encourage involvement of the community and parent of students who participate in a second language acquisition program Campus encourages teachers, parents, and community to serve on a district-level second language acquisition program task force 7 P a g e

8 Digital Learning Environment The 2014 Mountain Valley Middle School TEA STaR Chart and the 2013 MVMS 8 th grade technology literacy data is the foundation for the ratio of students to computing devices and the percent of students who can identify software and hardware appropriate to a task. MVMS student and staff participation in the CISD tech showcase was impacted by the large number of new CISD staff who did not recognize the positive impact participating has for our students and staff. Our CISD tech showcase involvement does not accurately reflect the school staff s technology training, comfort with, and utilization of, technology in the learning environment. Overall Digital Learning Environment -- Acceptable Student access to technology Ratio of students to computing devices Student-led newscasts Participation in technology related professional development Technology Showcase participation Students can appropriately identify software / device for specific task 8 P a g e

9 Dropout Prevention Strategies Mountain Valley Middle School Community & Student Engagement counselors use longitudinal data to determine whether or not state at-risk indicators are accurately reported. PowerWalk walkthrough data and anecdotal evidence are used in identifying the percentage of teachers who provide high-quality instruction. All of our students participate in a club of choice through Club Fridays, which allow students to explore new areas of interest during the school day. Students also have multiple opportunities to participate in varying extracurricular activities such as sports, dance, cheer, student council, National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), Leos club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) and academic UIL. Communities In Schools (CIS) provides mentors for students through community organizations, Peer Assistance & Leadership (PALS) is provided through Canyon Lake High School and Texas State University provides Bobcat Buddies for our students. Unfortunately, we ve experienced a decline in the number of mentors this school year as compared to the school year. Our positive behavior system in place needs revamping to meet the varying interests of our 6 th, 7 th and 8 th graders. The system in place provides Hawk Bucks for students to earn then use in the school store to buy varying items. Attendance continues to be a focus area for our feeder pattern schools. Our student management team has developed and implemented a system over the course of the school year to address these patterns before they interfere with the legal requirements and/or academic success. Overall Dropout Prevention Strategies -- Acceptable The use of early warning indicators, including the 13 criteria for students being at-risk of dropping out of school Availability of high-quality, engaging classroom instruction and extracurricular activities Availability of mentors for students Implementation of positive behavior systems and reduction in rate of student removal from class Students targeted for truancy prevention in response to high number of absences 9 P a g e

10 Educational Program for Gifted & Talented Students The district assessment and professional development (PD) requirements provide the foundation of the ratings for this category. It is evident that Mountain Valley Middle School needs to focus on campus PD on the varying "faces" of the Gifted and Talented (GT) student to help our staff properly identify, effectively work with, and differentiate instruction for our both out identified and unidentified gifted students. Student progress updates are provided to parents in an informal manner throughout the school year through grades, s, phone calls and conferences. Overall Educational Program for Gifted & Talented Students -- Recognized Nomination and identification of underrepresented student populations Implementation of a comprehensive assessment process Structure and implementation of program services Depth and complexity in the general education classroom Development of quality student products and presentations Evaluation and communication of student progress Professional development qualifications for teachers of gifted and talented students Involvement opportunities for the campus and parents of gifted and talented students 10 P a g e

11 History of Compliance Mountain Valley Middle School is in compliance with all of the areas evaluated below. Overall History of Compliance YES, in Compliance Campus Improvement Plans included all statutory requirements Individualized Education Program plans for students receiving special education and/or 504 services have been implemented Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC) decisions have been properly documented Health screenings available on campus Participation in free vaccination clinics or other health services Participation in FitnessGram and communication of results The Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR) hard-copy book is accessible to the public AND the TEA-prepared School Report Card has been disseminated to parents/guardians by deadline and a printed copy is accessible to the public AND the NCLB Federal Report Card has been disseminated electronically or by hard copy to all parents/guardians by deadline and a printed copy is accessible to the public Personal Graduation Plans (PGPs) are in place for all required students No, not in Compliance Yes, in Compliance 11 P a g e