2023-2024 School Improvement & Innovation Plan

• Great Falls Elementary School
• Region 1
• Sara Harper, Principal

English Language Arts

Outcome: By the Spring testing window, 90% of our students in grades 1-2 will make at least 75% of the expected progress for the year according to universal screener data and 90% of kindergarten students will reach benchmark on the PALS.

Strategy 1: Improve daily, systematic, explicit instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, and morphology in the core language arts block.

Strategy 2: Increase use of data to plan instruction and monitor progress for students demonstrating risk

Strategy 3: Expand use of skills-based grouping to ensure students demonstrate mastery of foundational skills.

Mathematics

Outcome: By the Spring testing window, 90% of our students in grades 1-2 will make at least 75% of the expected progress for the year according to universal screener data and 80% of kindergarten students will reach benchmark on the EMAS.

Strategy 1: Increase teacher implementation of explicit instruction and other components of effective mathematics intervention.

Strategy 2: Increase teachers implementation strategies related to instructional shift 8: from looking for correct answers towards revealing student thinking.

Strategy 3: Use conversation structures to increase academic talk between students.

Absenteeism

Outcome: By June 2024, Great Falls ES absentee data will show a 5% reduction of chronically absent students - resulting in a 14.4% chronic absenteeism rate.

Strategy 1:  Strengthen school team practices to monitor attendance data and determine need for intervention and additional support.

Strategy 2: Strengthening messaging to staff, students and families around attendance to school. Each stakeholder should be able to understand how daily attendance matters, not only for academic success, but because school offers an opportunity to develop social and emotional skills such as listening, paying attention, problem-solving and self-regulation, all which are needed to grow and learn.

Strategy 3: Use Talking Points as a way for EL families to report student absences