Cutler Ridge Elementary/ Assurant Satellite Learning Center Miami-Dade County Public Schools Mrs. Adrienne L. Wright-Mullings, Principal 20210 Coral Sea Rd Cutler Bay, FL 33189-1532 Document Generated On March 7, 2014
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. <br><br> 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? Cutler Ridge Elementary was established in 1956 at 20210 Coral Sea Road located in Cutler Bay, Florida. The fifty-seven year old campus was built on 11.88 acres in Miami-Dade County. Two miles away, students of the Assurant Group's employees attend the Satellite Learning Center. Since 1987, it has continued to serve over 200 students a year who are from middle socio-economic families, who are not necessarily residents of Cutler Bay. Cutler Ridge Elementary provides students, parents and the community a safe and stimulating environment full of educational opportunities. Students who are eligible are given the opportunity to participate in a full-time gifted program. Students are exposed to real-life simulations. In addition, with the implementation of an inclusion program, the school has maintained a steady increase in the percentage of special education students who spend their school day in a resource setting and with general education students. Both environments strive for academic excellence and have a great deal of parental involvement and support. Attendance at Cutler Ridge Elementary and Assurant Satellite Learning Center continues to be a priority by providing daily, weekly and quarterly incentives to encourage students to attend school daily and on time that will maintain or exceed the 95 percent average for the 2012-2013 school year. The school serves a multi-ethnic student population of 773 students. The ethnic breakdown of the school is 65% Hispanic, 22 % African American, 10.9% White and 2% other The English Language Learner (ELL) students constitute 42 percent. Additionally, the Special Education (SPED) population consists of 47 percent of the population. The gifted population is 11 percent and the population eligible to receive free or reduced priced meals is 63 percent. Our faculty and staff consists of 3 administrators, 54 teachers, 1 counselors, 3 clerical, 3 custodians, 1 paraprofessionals, and 25 hourly employees. Our challenges highly consists of Lack of technology resources, Inconsistent parental involvement, Accommodating two campuses effectively with high expectations, Minimal resources available to provide tutoring after school and teachers having to providing their own innervation during instructional periods. Our obstacles are solely overcome by dedicated individuals who collaborate to befit the differentiation of our population of students and community. After analyzing and evaluating pertinent data such as Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Results, the School Climate Survey, the 2012-2013 Attendance Report, 2012-2013 FITNESSGRAM Results, the identified objectives and strategies indicated in the School Improvement Plan as school-wide priorities for the 2013-2014 school year. 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. At Cutler Ridge Elementary and Assurant Satellite Learning Center our vision is to join parents and the community to assist all students in discovering, exploring and experiencing lifetime learning. Additionally, our mission is committed to delivering and promoting instruction that is reflective, responsible, research based and rigorous while nurturing the individual needs and difference of all students to achieve their maximum potential in an ever-changing society. In an effort to ensure success for all students, Cutler Ridge and Assurant Satellite Learning Center offers various programs. We focus on educating the whole child and allowing our students to expand their knowledge and talents. Our school offers the Extended Foreign Language (EFL) program across grade levels. We also offer a full time gifted program in grades 1-5. Since 1991 Cutler Ridge Elementary has been partnered with KAPOW (Kids And The Power Of Work). This program partners business and community volunteers with teachers and schools to help students discover new and different jobs, what it takes to do them, and how everything they are learning in school helps them prepare for their futures in the workplace, and life. Cutler Ridge Elementary and Assurant Satellite Learning Center sets high expectations for our student in order to provide a creative, high quality, student-centered education, empowering our future leaders to concur their goals. 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. Cutler Ridge Elementary/Assurant Satellite Learning Center has maintained a State Accountability Grade of A for ten years. Cutler Ridge Elementary has been awarded the Bilingual Tutoring grant for the past three years, has been recognized as a Five Star School for the past five years, Healthy Schools Grant participant, and awarded a grant to have children develop a garden. Both locations have enjoyed being a Golden School Award recipient for achieving the volunteer goal for the past twelve years. The Parent Teacher Association constantly provides the mechanism for parents to volunteer to assist with various initiatives throughout the school year and to support administrators, teachers, parents and students. The students at Cutler Ridge Elementary and Assurant Satellite Learning Center are responsible and caring citizens who responds to those in need by reaching the school's United Way Goal for the past ten years and providing canned goods and other items when drives are coordinated to donate to the community or their classmates. Over the last three years our Science and Math Scores continue to show improvement. Due to changes in the student demographics; our student academic improvement is not consistently showing measurable gains. However, we will work diligently with our Lowest 25 percentile in the areas of Reading, Writing and Math to demonstrate learning gains. Students in the lowest 25 percentile will receive additional assistance through a teacher directed intervention. Professional Development and Primary Learning Communities will be on-going in order to provided highly qualified instruction and that will focus on best practices to assist in the implementation of the Common Core State Standards across grade levels. We will place an emphasis on Mathematics and Science in grade 5. Teachers and students will be working thoroughly with the implementation of hands-on labs. Through the support of our PTA and the development of a grant committee it is our goal to bring in more technology into the classrooms to be able to meet the needs of all the student at Cutler Ridge Elementary. 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. The school benefits from community relationships with Assurant Solutions, Publix Supermarket, BJ's Wholesale, Cutler Ridge Park, Chuck E. Cheese Organization, Pineland Presbyterian Church, St. Peters United Methodist Church, One Stop South Florida Workforce Agency, Christ Fellowship Congregation, the Town of Cutler Bay, Cutler Bay Police Unit, The Cutler Ridge Women's Club, Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc., both Parent Teacher Association organizations, Flanagan's Restaurant and Subway Fast Food Chain and a host of other organizations that provide physical as well as human resources which enhance educational programs that respond to the needs of the students. These organizations agree to collaborate with Cutler Ridge Elementary and Assurant Satellite Learning Center to positively impact the learning environment. Page 5