Iredell Statesville Schools Dr. Boen Nutting, Principal 1431 Mecklenburg Hwy Mooresville, NC 28115-7841 Document Generated On March 24, 2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 3 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement 4 Additional Information 5
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? Mt. Mourne School is an IBO World School serving 450 students in grades 6, 7 and 8. Mt. Mourne primarily serves middle class, white families. While Mt. Mourne is within the Iredell-Statesville Schools, it is a school of choice within the public school district. In order to attend, students must meet application requirements. The primary requirement is that students must desire to "learn for the sake of learning." Mt. Mourne School is located in the southern end of Iredell County. Our student population is primarily white middle class families. The parents of our students are generally involved in their child's education and demand a high level of professionalism from our teachers and leadership. Of our 450 students, 9 receive free lunch, and 11 receive reduced lunch. Our parent involvement is a strength as well as our PTO participation. Our parents generally raise approximately $30,000 in PTO supplemental funds each year for MMS. Our school is located near the Lowe's Home Improvement Corporate headquarters. As a result, we serve a small population of international students. The students at MMS come from 5 elementary feeder schools within the southern end of Iredell County. Transportation is provided to all of our students, but because they come from many neighborhoods, the transportation piece limits the school start and end time. An effect of the transportation is that MMS has the shortest school day in the school district. MMS has been the top performing middle school in the Charlotte Metro region for three years. We attribute our success to the motivation of our students, support of our families, and a high caliber teaching staff. 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. Mt. Mourne School is an IBO World School. The International Baccalaureate Organization aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the IBO works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. Mount Mourne School exists to inspire its students to become compassionate, lifelong learners who are responsible, global citizens. Our students will use various modes of communication in order to promote peace by learning to accept cultural differences and to respect our world. At Mt. Mourne we offer a rigorous course of global study through the use of IB unit planners, criteria related grading, an A day/b day schedule that allows each child to take 8 courses throughout the school year, as well as a fine art for the entire school year. Additionally, we offer over 20 after school scholastic clubs that compete within the state of NC. Page 3
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. MMS has been the top performing school in the district since its inception. Over 90% of our students are at or above grade level, making MMS NC End-of-Grade Scores within the top 5 schools in the state for the last three years. While academic performance has been in the superior range for three consecutive years, MMS continue to meet or exceed state growth goals. Three years ago, MMS staff embarked on a journey to systematically institute criteria related grading. Students at MMS receive trended, not averaged grades on a 0-8 scale. The result has been a three year examination of authentic instruction and assessment at MMS. MMS has been recognized for the last three years as a top performer in the North Carolina Scholastic Competition. This cumulative competition includes scholastic clubs like chess club, Robotics, Creative Writing Club, and Science Olympiad. Mt. Mourne fields approximately 20 scholastic extracurricular clubs. Page 4
Additional Information Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections. Over half of our staff have been formally trained by the International Baccalaureate Programme of the Americas. Teachers and administration have implemented criteria-related grading at MMS, thereby eliminating the 0-100 grading scale. Since moving to a criteria related grading scale, students continue to show growth academically as well as intrinsically. Page 5