HOLISTIC NEEDS ASSESSMENT
What are the most pressing challenges or needs of this school (academic and other needs)? How do you know?
At the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, Fuller GT/AIG Elementary students participated in virtual learning environment with 26% of the student population electing to return to in-person learning when school buildings reopened in late October. At the time this needs assessment was conducted, the most pressing challenges were maximizing instructional time and maintaining high student engagement in the virtual setting, specifically for students who did not have adult support nor supervision while engaging in their daily learning, and attending to the social-emotional needs of the students and staff. School needs from previous years were increasing achievement for students identified as Black, Latinx, ESL, and having a learning disability, as well as and continuing to respond appropriately to student misbehaviors. As the year progressed, the need for increasing student achievement for our historically marginalized subgroups became more evident as teachers submitted student report cards at the of each quarter.
Fuller's School Improvement Team met at the beginning of the school year to discuss last school year's priorities and areas of focus for the 2020-21 school year. The team agreed in 2019-20, the school focused on Core Behavior with the implementation of a school-wide behavior expectation plan. Out-of-school suspensions decreased from 28 suspensions in 2018-19 to 2 suspensions in 2019-20. PLT survey data during the initial months of remote learning indicated an increase in team collaboration, communication, and creativity to increase student engagement. Student engagement in the virtual learning environment varied greatly for Fuller's students. Students and families struggled and continue to struggle with technology issues, language barriers, parent supervision, and available adult support at home.
To address these concerns, the School Improvement Team proposed to prioritize the staff's engagement in equity discussions, PLTs to align their instruction across learning environments and meaningful integration of technology within lessons, and ensure all students have the resources they need to engage in core instruction regardless of the learning environment.
Fuller's School Improvement Team met at the beginning of the school year to discuss last school year's priorities and areas of focus for the 2020-21 school year. The team agreed in 2019-20, the school focused on Core Behavior with the implementation of a school-wide behavior expectation plan. Out-of-school suspensions decreased from 28 suspensions in 2018-19 to 2 suspensions in 2019-20. PLT survey data during the initial months of remote learning indicated an increase in team collaboration, communication, and creativity to increase student engagement. Student engagement in the virtual learning environment varied greatly for Fuller's students. Students and families struggled and continue to struggle with technology issues, language barriers, parent supervision, and available adult support at home.
To address these concerns, the School Improvement Team proposed to prioritize the staff's engagement in equity discussions, PLTs to align their instruction across learning environments and meaningful integration of technology within lessons, and ensure all students have the resources they need to engage in core instruction regardless of the learning environment.
What student performance trends can you identify?
Since 2014, the school’s overall performance grade has decreased to a letter C. Students’ combined grade-level proficiency on the reading, math, and fifth-grade science EOG tests show gaps between racial subgroups and subgroups identified with students either needing academic support or enrichment. Fuller students out-perform students in the state, but match or under-perform students in the district. Disaggregation of the data even further by subgroups shows students who are identified as Asian, White, and AIG consistently and significantly outperform their peers. At Fuller, on average, 95% of Asian and AIG students and 85% of White students pass the state EOG tests annually. The school’s second and third largest subgroups, Black and Latinx students, average 30% of students within those subgroups are proficient on the state tests. These subgroups are comparable to the scoring close to students identified as economically disadvantaged (EDS), English language learners (ELL), and students with disabilities (SWD). The performance trends for each subgroup are consistent for the past six years (see below).
Fuller exceeded growth in 2014, but has only met growth twice since then. For the past two years, four of the five lowest-performing subgroups (Latinx, Black, SWD, and ELL) have either met or exceeded their expected growth. The inconsistencies come with growing students who are already high achieving based on testing data, such as White, Asian, and AIG students.
Lastly, the progress monitoring tools, mClass and Number Knowledge Test, results are similar to the performance assessments where significantly more White and Asian students are at benchmark or above when compared to Black and Latinx students.
Fuller exceeded growth in 2014, but has only met growth twice since then. For the past two years, four of the five lowest-performing subgroups (Latinx, Black, SWD, and ELL) have either met or exceeded their expected growth. The inconsistencies come with growing students who are already high achieving based on testing data, such as White, Asian, and AIG students.
Lastly, the progress monitoring tools, mClass and Number Knowledge Test, results are similar to the performance assessments where significantly more White and Asian students are at benchmark or above when compared to Black and Latinx students.
What teacher working conditions trends can you identify?
The overall results from the 2018 TWC presented a school where teachers lacked mutual trust (46% agreement), enforcement of student conduct rules (26% agreement), and consistent administration support (57%). Teachers strongly supported questions about parent and community involvement and instructional materials and resources. Less than 70% of the teachers agreed on 5% of the 93-questions in 2020 when compared to 2018 where 44% of the questions had less than 70% agreement due to change in school leadership and positive changes that followed. The 2020 TWC had high teacher agreement with the majority questions, but there is still work to be done. Teachers responded with less agreement to sufficient non-instructional time (67%), sufficient instructional time to meet students' needs (42%), and sufficient instructional technology (61%). Teachers also noted that students have more physical conflicts with one another and students are bullied more for their race and ethnicity than cultural background or religion.
Identify potential barriers for innovation and improvement in the school. How do you know?
Fuller has a unique magnet program where all students participate in the gifts and talents program through the elective course offerings, and the 4th- and 5th-grade students identified as AIG are homogeneously grouped for core instruction and have the option to take AIG-specific electives. The magnet program can be a barrier to addressing the pressing challenges and needs because the themes drive the master schedule, which limits core instruction because of the 80-minute elective blocks. Students identified as AIG (see below) are traditionally White and Asian students, which can hinder the school's equity and diversity focus.
Virtual learning will also be a barrier for student achievement and high engagement because that learning environment is not the best environment for every student, specifically if the student does not have the supports they need at home to be successful. Teachers are burning the candle at both ends and need to be supported now more than ever to meet students' needs in both learning environments.
Virtual learning will also be a barrier for student achievement and high engagement because that learning environment is not the best environment for every student, specifically if the student does not have the supports they need at home to be successful. Teachers are burning the candle at both ends and need to be supported now more than ever to meet students' needs in both learning environments.