Executive Summary. Detroit Service Learning Academy

Transcription

1 Mr. Shannon Smith, Principal W 7 Mile Rd Detroit, MI Document Generated On April 7, 2015

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 3 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement 4 Additional Information 5

3 Introduction Every school has its own story to tell. The context in which teaching and learning takes place influences the processes and procedures by which the school makes decisions around curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The context also impacts the way a school stays faithful to its vision. Many factors contribute to the overall narrative such as an identification of stakeholders, a description of stakeholder engagement, the trends and issues affecting the school, and the kinds of programs and services that a school implements to support student learning. The purpose of the Executive Summary (ES) is to provide a school with an opportunity to describe in narrative form the strengths and challenges it encounters. By doing so, the public and members of the school community will have a more complete picture of how the school perceives itself and the process of self-reflection for continuous improvement. This summary is structured for the school to reflect on how it provides teaching and learning on a day to day basis. Page 1

4 Description of the School Describe the school's size, community/communities, location, and changes it has experienced in the last three years. Include demographic information about the students, staff, and community at large. What unique features and challenges are associated with the community/communities the school serves? The Board of Trustees of Lake Superior State University is the authorizer of (DSLA), formally known as YMCA Service Learning Academy. DSLA was founded in 1999 and converted to a School of Excellence in January DSLA is in its fifteenth year of operation and is thriving with over 1100 students. Servicing west Detroit and its surrounding suburbs, DSLA is a School-wide Title I Academy with a number of strengths and challenges. DSLA is located in a low socio-economic area of the city with the median home value of $39,700. We have a student population of 94% African- American, 52% female, 48% male, and 92% free or reduce lunch. Our staff is a diverse group of dedicated professionals, however DSLA has experienced issues with teacher retention over the past 3-4 years. As with most inner-city schools within our area, we have challenges with student attendance, student achievement and growth. We have been working diligently to increase our efforts to better serve our school community by providing best practice programming aimed at academic deficits and reviewing ways to improve attendance,student transportation, and after-school programming. Page 2

5 School's Purpose Provide the school's purpose statement and ancillary content such as mission, vision, values, and/or beliefs. Describe how the school embodies its purpose through its program offerings and expectations for students. Our mission at DSLA is to prepare students for academic success, lifelong learning, leadership and meaningful service to the community. Our mission compelled us to place Service Learning as the heart of our school. It allows our entire school community to service the area we live in and beyond. The program is a catalyst for change concerning issues that affect our lives and the lives of those around us. As members of the community, our students have the responsibility to live the core values of wisdom, justice, integrity, love, compassion, respect and courage. Service Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. DSLA partners with numerous companies and organizations such as Meijer, Greater Grace Church, COTS, WJLB, Barns and Nobles, Ronald McDonald House, DMC, and others. These partnerships help ensure that our service learning program is meaningful and engaging. We have worked diligently to ensure curriculum alignment and embedding techniques that allow our teachers to focus on the academic standards while including the service-learning strand. The academic, service learning component allows the classroom teacher to teach the state standards and benchmarks of the Michigan curriculum, while also giving the students real life, real world experiences. It is through this process, our students learn the value of their voice and the power of service. Page 3

6 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement Describe the school's notable achievements and areas of improvement in the last three years. Additionally, describe areas for improvement that the school is striving to achieve in the next three years. DSLA has made progress in math from 2013 to 2014 in 8th grade, with no change in 7th grade and a decline in grades 2nd through 6th. Progress has been made in reading from 2013 to 2014 in 8th grade, with no change in 7th grade, and a decline in grades 2nd through 6th. This trend data has lead the District to completely re-vamp the instructional delivery model in grades K-5 for the school year. DSLA will be using DIBELS, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills in fall of 2015 for assessing read with our K-5 population. Additionally, all of our K-3 teachers and reading interventionists will be trained to deliver Phonics First, an Orton Gillingham based multisensory phonics reading program. DSLA will vet new approaches to Mathematics instruction and offering Kumon Math after school for K-2 students. DSLA is not a Focus school or in the process of Restructuring. DSLA has had great success in the past, and we feel as though our current challenges are temporary, as we are diligently make the necessary changes and adjustments to overcome most recent obstacles. Page 4

7 Additional Information Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections. The (DSLA) has committed itself to becoming a leader in educating urban youth. Our District services grades K-8 and has integrated the service learning component school-wide. DSLA has a comprehensive academic program with honors classes as an option, a wide range of electives and a competitive sports program. The school is assembled in small learning communities that allow our staff to gain greater insight to help mentor and guide our students with the rigorous academic program. Our teaching staff works hard to accelerate and provide interventions with a wide range of differentiation strategies. The goal of our staff is to provide engaging instruction with rigor and relevance to make our students prepared academically and socially for the challenges of tomorrow. Currently the District is in the process of developing a 3-year strategic plan that will address administrative reorganization, academic programming, curriculum needs, technology, new teacher mentoring, and a merit pay structure to improve teacher retention. After the plan is finalized, we are striving for an implementation date of July 1, Page 5