Walker County Board of Education Mr. Rod Aaron, Principal 155 Yellow Jacket Drive Jasper, AL 35503 Document Generated On January 15, 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 3 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement 5 Additional Information 6
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
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? is located on a thirty-acre tract of land in northeast Walker County, eleven miles north of Jasper on Highway 257. It is a public school originally begun before 1920 as a two-room community school. The original structure burned, but classrooms were rebuilt and opened for occupancy for grades one through nine in the fall of 1921. was named for Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry, an American statesman and educator who worked for sixty years to make education possible for all children in the South. In 1952, Curry became an accredited school with only eleven grades being taught at that time. In 1962, new facilities were built for the high school leaving the original structure for the elementary school. In 1965, the vocational/agriculture department was added to the building. The band boosters' organization added a band room for student use in 1971. Enrollment increased, and in 1979, Dr. Delane O'Rear funded a new field house for the football team. Later, a science lab was added and equipped, and a separate structure was built for a cafeteria that seats approximately 400-450 students with the old cafeteria being converted to three additional classrooms and office areas. The newest addition to the school was opened for use during the 2001-2002 school year, adding twelve classrooms, two restrooms, storage rooms, and an office area at a cost of $1,663.710. Two computer labs are available for class use or for preparation for the ACT or AHSGE. All classrooms are wired for Internet use and have at least one computer for student/teacher use. holds accreditation by the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools. is a state-funded high school with a small portion of support from local taxes. The sources of school funding are the Foundation Program, High School Graduation Exam revenues, Children First, Transportation, PSCA, ADECA, IDEA, Part B, Vocational Basic Grant, Business and Industry Certification, WIA Tutorial, USDA-CNP, sales tax, ad valorem tax, and local school revenues such as concessions, admissions, fundraisers, and donations. receives pupils from three feeder schools: Curry Middle, Lupton, and Valley. The school serves students in grades nine through twelve, with a current enrollment of 534. The community of Curry is largely rural with town-related occupations. The population of Curry continues to grow with the addition of many families relocating to the Smith Lake area and several new subdivisions being built between Jasper and the lake. The racial composition of the area is predominately white. A shopping center has been built in the Curry community, which adds banking, retail, and insurance businesses to the small number of restaurant and manufacturing companies already established. Other occupations found in the community include poultry and cattle farming, construction, automobile dealerships, beauty salons, and sales and services. However, most citizens of this community find employment in surrounding towns or cities. A number of churches in the community serve the spiritual needs of the people of Curry. Service groups such as the Lions Club, the Jasper Kiwanis Club, and the Pilot Club of Jasper are actively involved in improving both the school and the community. There is no community park, but our students have access to the Jasper Parks and Recreational facilities for baseball, softball, tennis, and swimming. Dow Lowery Memorial Field provides a home for the community Little League baseball teams. Smith Lake is located two and one-half miles from. The lake offers recreational activities such as fishing, skiing, boating, scuba diving, jet skiing, swimming, and camping. Page 2
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. ur Beliefs -A school's chief priority is to develop responsible, life-long learners by providing a challenging curriculum and a supportive learning environment. -Students' learning needs should be the primary focus of all decisions impacting the work of the school. -Students have different learning styles and should be provided with a variety of instructional approaches to enhance their understanding, support their learning, and promote success. -The commitment to continuous improvements is imperative if our school is going to enable students to become confident, self-directed, lifelong learners. -Each student is a valued individual with unique physical, social, emotional, and intellectual needs. -A student's self-esteem is enhanced by mutual respect and positive relationships between students and staff. -A school promotes learning by providing a safe, stimulating, and physically comfortable environment. -Teachers, administrators, parents, students, and the community share the responsibility for advancing the school's mission and assisting in student achievement. Our Mission Our mission is to develop well-educated, success-oriented citizens by providing a challenging curriculum and a productive learning environment with the support of a professional and innovative staff. already participates in several activities that encourage students to be college and career ready. These include: 9th grade-groundhog Job Shadowing 9th grade-career Preparedness Course 10th grade-interest Inventory and the Plan 11th grade-bevill State Community College Career Fair 11th grade-act Test (administered to all 11th grade students) 11th grade-asvab is administered to all 11th grade students 11th grade-psat is administered to those 11th grade students who show higher academic ability 12th grade-bevill Bound and College Fair 9th-11th-Upward Bound and Talent Search The graduation rate at is 78% and the dropout rate is 2%. The breakdown of the 2014 graduates by diploma type is: Advanced - 68 Standard - 25 Advanced Career Technical - 1 Career Technical - 22 AOD - 2 Page 3
Certificate - 1 Post-Secondary plans for the 119 seniors for 2014 include: Jr. College - 55 4 year college - 20 Career Technical School - 14 Work - 19 Military - 11 As educators today, we face a volatile educational environment where all educational research indicates innovative changes in the workplace causing a trickle-down effect that will demand innovative changes in the classroom and curriculum. Each teacher at uses a variety of measures such as homework, tests, portfolios, projects, and papers to determine the level of student achievement. With the implementation of INow, parents are able to check their student's progress at any time from any computer. Page 4
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. We've provided a new computer for every teacher. One of the computer labs has been updated with new equipment and updated software. A new computer lab for all students to use to complete classroom assignments has been added. New updated computers have been installed in the library. We have purchased Elmo's for math teachers that have requested one. One goal for the 2014-2015 school year is to add another computer lab for student use in completing classroom assignments as well as preparing for the ACT test. Our goal for the next 3 years is for at least half of the teachers to have a smart board or lap top in their room. As a result of some of the added technology with ACT Prep online availablity our ACT scores have raised from 18.9 to nearly 20.4 in the last 2 years on the national standard test. We are trying to add technology to each classroom as funds become available (this includes smart boards, computers, document readers, etc.). Page 5
Additional Information Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections. had over 1.7 million dollars' worth of scholarships awarded at the awards night in May, 2014 thanks to the diligence of our counselor Mrs. Deb White. The 2014-15 school year, Curry will be participating in the Admission Application State Campaign on November 5, 2014 to promote that 100% of all seniors will complete an admission application for at least one college. We had a 77% graduation rate in 2011-12 and 87% graduation rate in 2012-13. We had the highest combined score for the college and career readiness standards for any school in the county. We had an ACT w/writing composite score of 17.7 for 2013-14. The softball team competed in the 5A State playoffs in 2013-14. We offer Dual Enrollment classes in English and math through Bevill State Community College. For the 2014-15 year, Curry has 12 students enrolled in English 101/102. We have recently purchased 30 new computers to install in an unoccupied classroom for student use in completing classroom assignments. The computer are equipped with up to date software. Two new programs the 2014-15 school year include the HOPE Academy and Twilight night school. These programs help students to catch up on lost and/or failed credits so that they may graduate on-time. Currently, has four 11th/12th grade students in HOPE and two that have completed HOPE and returned to school. Also, there are five 9th and 10th graders enrolled in HOPE. Curry has four students enrolled in Twilight night school. One student has completed all classes for credit recovery, and two more are waiting to enroll. Page 6