Executive Summary. Kleine Brogel Elementary School

Transcription

1 Europe: Isles Ms. Vanda Waller, Assistant Principal Kiestraat 1 Meeuwen-Gruitrode3670 Document Generated On November 3, 2014

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? A part of the Isles District, KBES supports the families and children of U.S. Air Force personnel who are stationed at Kleine Brogel Air Base, Kleine Brogel, Belgium. The school serves children from kindergarten through sixth grade in multi-age classroom settings. KBES shares an educational complex with a Belgian public elementary school, De Boomgaard. De Boomgaard is a pre-kindergarten through sixth grade school that includes several American students in its preschool program. This setting provides opportunities for our students to share many cultural events with their Belgian peers throughout the academic year. KBES is located in the middle of Meeuwen, a small town in the province of Limburg in the northeastern section of Belgium. The city of Meeuwen is approximately sixty miles east of Brussels, Belgium, in the Tri-Border area. Kleine Brogel Air Base, home of the Belgian Air Force 10th Wing Tactical and the 701st Munitions Support Squadron, is approximately 60 miles northeast of Brussels, 60 miles east of Antwerp, 40 miles north of Liege and about 30 miles south of Eindhoven, Netherlands. The 701st MUNSS is a Geographically Separated Unit responsible for receiving, storing, and maintaining US munitions, and to provide custody and control of those munitions until receipt of proper authority to release them to the Belgian Air Force 10W TAC (F-16 aircraft) in support of NATO's Strike Mission. The 701st is divided into five distinct flights consisting of maintenance, operations, communications, custody, and mission support. The 701 MUNSS unit consists of 134 active duty personnel, Department of Defense and local national civilians. The unit supports over 60 family members and a few retirees. The Belgian Air Force, through a bi-lateral agreement between the U.S. and Belgian Governments, provides and maintains property occupied by USAF personnel. For services and support beyond capability of the unit, the squadron relies on the 52 FW at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, as the support MOB. Further support facilities are available to families through Schinnen Army Garrison and also from the Geilenkirchen NATO Air Base in Germany, which is approximately 60 minutes from the school. The KB Air Force Base is small and has no housing facilities. Therefore, all of our KBES families have the opportunity to live in the Dutch-speaking, Belgian communities surrounding the Kleine Brogel area. Military support facilities on the base, which is 25 minutes from our school, are minimal. Enrollment has been steady in the last three years; all of the students at KBES are U.S. Air Force dependents. Because of our geographically remote designation, families are carefully screened prior to receiving assignments to Kleine Brogel Base. 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 school Vision Statement is: strives to nurture the development of students as life-long learners. Our vision is that students will enjoy learning, think creatively, and act responsibly. We work toward this Vision Statement every day by giving students opportunities to build confidence and self-belief. Our Continuous School Improvement Goals are vocabulary development and math problem solving: Goal 1: Math Word Problems All students will increase performance on targeted developmentally appropriate mathematical word problems using instructional interventions as measured by system wide and/or school based assessments. The targeted skills are understanding the problem, applying knowledge, choosing appropriate strategies, and using skills to solve problems. Goal 2: Vocabulary All students will increase performance on targeted developmentally appropriate vocabulary skills using instructional interventions implemented in all curricular areas as measured by the TerraNova3 as well as other system-wide and school-based assessments. The targeted skills are to develop a comprehensive vocabulary used to analyze and understand key concepts in curriculum areas. The data that was used to establish and analyze progress towards these goals include the Terra Nova (Edition 3), IXL assessments, beginning, middle and end of the year Pearson math and benchmark assessments, SRI and BAS test scores. Many strategies are used to support these goals and include Book Buddies (shared reading), word walls, Reading Street Writing Prompts, vocabulary development activities, project-based learning, partner reading, and community volunteer readers. Data are shared at faculty and professional development meetings throughout the year. Teachers use both formative and summative assessment data to guide instruction. Students that do not make adequate progress in any curricular area are identified and receive extra support inside and outside the classroom setting. Our Student Support Team (SST) meets regularly and provides teachers with ideas and support for at-risk students. If students continue to struggle, they may be referred to our Case Study committee (CSC). Our school improvement efforts are aligned with the AdvancEd standards. Internal and external stakeholders are a part of the school improvement process. The school improvement efforts are communicated with all stakeholders. 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. In response to recommendations made during the most recent QAR visit, the staff has increased the school focus on school communications with stakeholders, more actively engaged the school staff in CSI activities and developed a keen awareness of assessing and reporting individual growth to our students and parents. School personnel discuss and share school data formally and informally as recommended by the QAR report. Input is routinely sought from stakeholders. Parents and community members volunteer and participate in school initiatives. The school staff discusses the goals and interventions and continually monitors classroom practices to ensure focus on interventions, goals, and AdvancEd standards. This systematic process ensures that we monitor the alignment of our goals, interventions, and standards for maximizing student achievement. School leadership provides time and support for staff to collaborate. One challenge is analyzing and reporting school data for our small school population in a meaningful and significant way. During school year , only 4 fourth-grade students and 3 fifth-grade students took the TerraNova3. This presents a privacy issue when reporting testing results to the parent and base community; we have asked our DSO instructional support staff to guide us in analyzing and reporting school level data. In lieu of reportable school-wide data, report cards, SRI/BAS and TerraNova scores assist in tracking, monitoring and assessing student progress. Assessment data are reported to parents at least four times a year. Currently, the school staff is in the process of working together to develop a more individualized focus on student learning and achievement. Because of new staff configuration collaborative opportunities have arisen to positively impact student achievement. 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. is a very special small school with over 30 years of providing a unique, dynamic and rigorous education to the children of the military members stationed at Kleine Brogel Base. The local Meeuwen city leadership includes Kleine Brogel students in all the local school initiatives, and our students and families benefit from being in the center of a small, vibrant town center. We partner with the Belgian teachers and staff at our school and have a very enriching cultural experience by being located in a local school instead of on a military base. Our partnerships extend beyond the base to the local community, and we are privileged to be considered "citizens" of Meeuwen. is proud to be a place where students experience small classroom settings and one-on-one help. Students also benefit from excellent technology opportunities, cultural and foreign language events as well as a caring, hard-working and talented school staff. Enrollment at KBES is approximately 30 students and enrollment has remained steady in the last three years; we have many more Kindergarten, First and Second grade students than students in the higher grades. All of the students at KBES are U.S. Air Force dependents. Because of our geographically remote designation, families are carefully screened prior to receiving assignments to Kleine Brogel Base. All families stationed at Kleine Brogel base use local medical services and must travel to the Schinnen Army Garrison base to use commissary, AAFES facilities and to use other services (banking, barber/beauty shop, bowling and gym facilities, etc.) The majority of the school population is Caucasian. The remaining students are Multi-Race, African American, Hispanic and Asian. The school provides families a place to gather, employment and volunteer opportunities, and a place to socialize with other family members in the school setting. KBES families are very vocal in their support of the school and for the services it offers to students' families and to the base at large. Families stationed at Kleine Brogel base face unique challenges due to the geographic location of the assignment. Gas rationing plays a big part in the ability of families to travel to other military facilities for shopping or other reasons; many dependent spouses have a difficult time adjusting to the community because of the small number of people stationed at the base and because of a lack of employment opportunities in the local area. Page 5