John Adams High School Investment School January 2014 Report

John Adams High School
Investment School
January 2014 Report
JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL
JANUARY 2014 REPORT
To Families & Caregivers of John Adams High School students:
In keeping with our promise to families of students attending CMSD’s Investment Schools, I am pleased to
present John Adams High School’s second quarter 2013 progress report.
As discussed with families when John Adams High School was selected as one of 13 CMSD Investment schools,
it is common for turnaround schools to see improvements in culture and attendance before academic
improvements are evident, so you may notice those trends.
Research from other districts engaging in similar school reforms shows that sometimes there is even a dip in
performance or a rise in discipline issues as standards get tougher, before seeing the improvements they seek.
That is why CMSD has made a 3-year commitment to all Investment Schools, recognizing that turnaround does
not happen overnight.
As I reported to the community in December, we are proud to report that most Investment Schools have
demonstrated improved student perceptions of safety and increased family and community participation at the
school.
In addition, I can now report that based on winter benchmark assessment data from our K-8 schools, most K-8
Investment Schools showed growth in their predicted Performance Index as compared to the fall baseline or as
compared to last year’s Performance Index score.
An important part of our effort to turn around John Adams High School and to fulfill our Cleveland Plan goal
to ensure every child attends a successful school is your active participation in your child’s education. Families
are one of the most important factors in student attendance and achievement, and we look forward to our
continued partnership in your child’s education.
In the coming months, there will be ongoing opportunities for families and community members to provide
feedback on our goals and progress. Please share your ideas and concerns with your School-Parent
Organization (SPO), principal, or superintendent (contact information below).
The Investment School progress reports will continue to provide a detailed look at your child’s school
performance so that, together, we can reinforce strategies that are working and provide additional supports
where needed accelerate school improvement in our Investment Schools.
Sincerely,
Eric Gordon
Trent Mosley, Investment School Superintendent
Trent.mosley@clevelandmetroschools.org
989-239-9380
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JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL
JANUARY 2014 REPORT
Dear John Adams Stakeholders,
As we conclude the first semester of our investment year, it is important that we take a moment to reflect on
what we have accomplished and how far we have come. The initial year of investment has been challenging as
we work to implement a change in the way we educate our children and prepare them for college and careers
which will ultimately prepare them to effectively compete in the global work force.
The foundation of our transformation is ensuring that every John Adams educator is committed to the success
of our students and the community. Please know that every John Adams staff member has been carefully
screened and selected by a team of parents, community members and teachers. Each John Adams staff
member has signed a commitment letter confirming their willingness to do whatever it takes to help our
children succeed. This is evident not only in our teaching staffs attendance being higher than the district
average of 93% but through the hours our teachers spend after school working together to improve their
practice to reach more students every day. Our staff’s commitment and increased presence in the building are
directly related to the increased number of students indicating that they feel safe at school.
Our most pressing issue continues to be student attendance. Attendance at John Adams stands at 81%, far
below the state and district average. We currently have over 300 students who fail to attend school on a
regular basis. As we cannot educate children who do not attend school, we remain committed to those students
and want to do whatever we can to find a way to reach them and to improve their attendance. We are currently
working with the community to find ways to attract these students back to our school or to any school that will
help them achieve success.
As we continue to work to teach the children of the John Adams community please remember that this is a
community effort and only through our combined efforts will we be able to ensure that every child has an
opportunity to learn and achieve their dreams. Please consider joining our Student Parent Organization,
(S.P.O.) whose members assist us every day to increase attendance, find resources for our students, work with
councilors to increase our graduation rate, tutor students for the Ohio Graduation Test (O.G.T.), or who help
spread information about event happening in the school.
As always I thank you for entrusting your children to the John Adams family. We never stop working to help
our scholars to reach their full potential, so I am certain that together we can transform John Adams into the
premier high school it once was.
Sincerely,
Damon L. Holmes
Principal
John Adams High School
3817 Martin Luther King Blvd
Cleveland, OH 44105
Office: 216.491.5700
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JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL
JANUARY 2014 REPORT
Part I: Student Achievement
There is no new benchmark data for high schools to predict student achievement at this time. Look for additional
information at Quarter 3.
Part II: Attendance and Culture
Average daily student
attendance: Improving trend
% daily attendance
100%
95%
93% = state
target
90%
85%
81%
81%
80%
12-13 yr
Q1 (13-14)
Q2 (13-14)
75%
70%
John Adams High School
Data through December 15
Average daily staff
attendance: Improving trend
100.0%
95.0%
94.3%
93.2% 93.7%
90.6%
95%=state
average
12-13 yr
90.0%
Q1
85.0%
Q2
80.0%
John Adams High
School
District avg
Includes instructional staff for Q1 and Q2 (e.g. teachers, paraprofessionals); Teachers only for 1213; Q2 attendance from 10/12 to 12/20
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JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL
JANUARY 2014 REPORT
Part II: Attendance and Culture (continued)
Major discipline incidents:
Declining trend (goal = 0)
23
25
18
20
15
2012-13
10
2013-14
5
0
Year-to-date
Students report feeling safe
at school: Improving trend;
(goal = 100%)
% of survey respondents
Data through December
100
80
60
Excellent safety
40
Adequate safety
20
0
2012-13
Teachers report strong support from administration:
Fall 13
District Fall
13
CMSD is developing a Conditions for Teaching Survey to evaluate how supported teachers feel at school. We will roll-out
this survey this spring. In the meantime, academic superintendents are informally surveying teachers to make sure they
feel supported, and the CTU is also regularly communicating teacher sentiment at schools.
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JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL
JANUARY 2014 REPORT
Part III: Family and Community Engagement
Number of family and
community engagement events
All data on this page as reported to
the Family and Community
Engagement Office, so may not
include additional off-site or
community events.
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
3
# of family and
community events
No data
12-13 Year-to- 13-14 Year-todate
date
As of December 1
Participation at family and
community engagement
events
We hope to move to a method of
reporting family and community
engagement that will allow for
comparison across schools, but
this is challenging since some
parents attend an event for
multiple siblings, while another
student might have a dad and an
aunt attend an event, for example.
Keep in mind that H.B. 525 or the
“Cleveland Plan” requires that all
families attend a family conference
by December 15 of each school
year.
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
310
No data
# of participants at
family and
community events
12-13 Year-to- 13-14 Year-todate
date
As of December 1
Customer service:
Both MassInsight, a partner to the Investment Schools, and the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) office
recently distributed online surveys to determine the extent to which parents feel welcome and respected at school.
Unfortunately, we did not receive enough responses to report the information as reliable. FACE will re-administer their
survey in the spring, so please be on the look-out and complete the survey online or by phone. MassInsight may be in
touch in the meantime to make sure schools are welcoming families: please respond so we can improve our service. You
can always contact the principal, SPO chair, or superintendent with any questions or concerns.
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JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL
JANUARY 2014 REPORT
Part IV: Facilities
School cleanliness:
The Operations team is beginning school walk-throughs to monitor school cleanliness and facilities maintenance. They
will survey the grounds and entrances, hallways, kitchen and dining area, and bathrooms. We hope to have initial data to
report on progress around this metric for the next quarterly reports in March.
Food quality:
Because fewer than 10 parents responded to the Mass Insight survey, we cannot report baseline data on food quality, but
we will be surveying students on breakfast and lunch quality going forward.
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