NMS 2016-2017 School Improvement Plan

Improvement is the Name of the Game at NMS

On Thursday, May 12, Mr. Geoghegan presented the NMS School Council's 2016-2017 School Improvement Plan to the MPS School Committee.

Let me again thank all the people who were responsible for making this plan:  the NMS Council of parents, teachers, and community members; NMS faculty and staff; and NMS administration.

Below is the Plan itself as well as the Google Slide presentation.

If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Geoghegan.

Working to make NMS Great.

Thank you.

Middleborough Public Schools

John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School

School Improvement Plan

2016-2017

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”

Benjamin Franklin

John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School

2015-2016 Council Members

Mr. Martin R. Geoghegan, Principal

Ms. Joanne Babin, Parent Representative

Ms. Rose Borges, Parent Representative

Ms. Patty Delaney, Parent Representative

Ms. Jennifer Healy, NMS Faculty

Ms. Gia Hinko, Parent Representative

Ms. Melissa Larson, Parent Representative

Ms. Lynn McManus, Parent Representative

Ms. Sherri Swindle, Parent Representative

Ms. Deborah Walgreen, NMS Faculty

Administrative Summary

This School Improvement Plan serves as a blueprint of the actions and processes needed to produce school improvement for the John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School.  It has been prepared with the School Council, staff of the Nichols Middle School (NMS), and the Administration.  As a collaborative team, we have worked on this plan to help us in identifying what we need to improve on.  We incorporated parts of the district’s Strategic Plan to align our plan with the direction of the district as a whole.  This plan will focus resource allocation, staff development, instructional content and practice, and assessment on the goals that have been established by the team.  NMS will then focus many areas of staff meetings, staff in-service, staff recognition, and staff monitoring around the School Improvement Plan objectives.  Since we have invested time in the development of a thoughtful, focused plan, we know this will pay dividends to our school over time.

John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School’s 2016-2017 School Improvement Plan’s Goals are:

• To become a one-to-one educational technology device setting with tablets as we continue to increase our integration of 21^st Century Learning (Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity) into our day-to-day instruction;

• To continue to create our school to have more of a 21^st Century Learning environment with more learning spaces for innovation within our Media Center, “Maker Spaces” and classrooms; and

• To continue to advance the overall culture and climate of the Nichols Middle School by fostering more mutual partnerships among students, families, staff, and the community while continuing to make NMS a great school academically, socially, and emotionally. 

The mission of the Middleborough Public Schools is to prepare all students to excel as educated, responsible, global citizens.

School Goal #1:  To become a one-to-one educational technology device setting with tablets as we continue to increase our integration of 21^st Century Learning (Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity) into our day-to-day instruction.

Connection to District Strategic Goal #3 on Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Performance Target:  Teach for 21^st Century Learning in conjunction with implementing the standards to have our students see that education is boundless and not limited to classrooms, textbooks, schedules, brick and mortar as we make them better and more creative communicators, collaborators, and critical thinkers within a 1-to-1 environment.

Action Plan/ Improvement Strategies	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline	Measurement and Outcomes	Resource(s) and/or Funding Source
Utilize a 1-to-1 technology environment to improve learning through more advanced usage of:  Google Chrome tablets with the Google suite of Apps including Google Drive, Documents, Slides and School, to name a few.	NMS Administration Technology Department STEM Director NMS Faculty and Staff NMS Technology Teacher	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Procurement of tablets for 1-to-1 Utilization of more Google Apps Academic assessments STE MCAS scores	Support from Administration, Technology, and PD More technology in the form of tablets Book Study: Who Owns the Learning? and Teaching with Tablets
Action Plan/ Improvement Strategies	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline	Measurement and Outcomes	Resource(s) and/or Funding Source
Continue to make our curriculum a more personalized, individual exploration where the students are at the center of their learning in all courses and classes.	NMS Administration STEM Director NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Academic assignments and assessments, PARCC Common assessments in core subject areas Classroom observations	PLC and PD Time Support from Administration, Technology, and professional development
Continue to develop our DIAL classes to better integrate personalized learning into our core classes of English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.	NMS Administration STEM Director NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Curriculum guides Academic assignments and assessments	Book Study of Who Owns the Learning? and Teaching with Tablets
Develop, study, and utilize initial and on-going assessments of student readiness and growth with Scantron.	NMS Administration STEM Director Department Leaders NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Virtual Data Walls Common assessments in core subject areas Classroom observations	PLC and PD Time Support from Administration, and professional development

School Goal #2:  To continue to create our school to have more of a 21^st Century Learning environment with more learning spaces for advancement within our Media Center, “Maker Spaces” and creative innovation centers.

Connection to District Strategic Goal #3 on Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Performance Target:  In 21^st Century schools, students become makers and learners, teachers become facilitators and activators, and classrooms become learning studios and learning commons. With our differentiated instruction and curriculum, we will apply an approach to teaching and learning that gives students multiple options for taking the information and making sense of the ideas to then innovate something “learned.” 

Action Plan/ Improvement Strategies	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline	Measurement and Outcomes	Resource(s) and/or Funding Source
Change the NMS Media Center into more of a flexible learning center.	NMS Administration STEM Director NMS Media Specialist/Librarian	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Changing of the Media Center	Furniture in Media Center “Maker Space”
Develop, study, and utilize pedagogy, curricula, activities, and experiences to foster 21st Century learning.	NMS Administration STEM Director NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Curriculum guides Common Assessments Classroom observations	PLC and PD Time Support from Administration and professional development
Action Plan/ Improvement Strategies	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline	Measurement and Outcomes	Resource(s) and/or Funding Source
Continue to better the utilization of all technology (including 1-to-1) to support the pedagogy, curricula, and assessments of a 21st Century collaborative learning environment.	NMS Administration STEM Director NMS Faculty and Staff Technology Department	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Curriculum guides Common Assessments Classroom observations	PLC and PD Time Support from Administration, Technology, and professional development Book Study of Who Owns the Learning? and Teaching with Tablets
Continue to create better physical learning environments (classroom, school, and virtual) to foster more 21st Century student learning.	NMS Administration STEM Director NMS Faculty and Staff Technology Department	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Curriculum guides Common Assessments Classroom observations	PLC and PD Time Support from Administration, Technology, and professional development Book Study

School Goal #3:  To continue to advance the culture and climate of the Nichols Middle School by fostering more mutual partnerships among students, families, staff, and the community while continuing to make NMS a great school academically, socially, and emotionally.

Connection to District Strategic Goal #1 on Partnership Development and Community Involvement

Performance Target:  To increase communication and positive culture-building initiatives with all stake-holders in the John T. Nichols, Jr. school community including student discipline, better use of technology, more advanced planning and development of our communication, the continued development of student-led conferences and grading practices as well as the aesthetic nature of the building and grounds.

Action Plan/ Improvement Strategies	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline	Measurement and Outcomes	Resource(s) and/or Funding Source
Emphasize technology as a tool to promote communication with: Aspen, School’s website, Principal’s blog, Twitter, and AlertNow.	NMS Administration STEM Director NMS Faculty and Staff Technology Department	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Look into using other means to advance our use of technology to increase communication home Data collected from sites	Support from Administration, Technology, and professional development
Increase family involvement in student academic ventures with advancement of Student-Led Conferences in all grades.	NMS Administration STEM Director NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	More parent involvement in Parent-Teacher Conferences Observation Surveys	Support from Administration, faculty and students
Action Plan/ Improvement Strategies	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline	Measurement and Outcomes	Resource(s) and/or Funding Source
Continue to look into more ways to communicate student progress toward meeting end-of-year learning standards through the use of other types of grade reporting.	NMS Administration STEM Director NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Improve our teaching toward the standards to then be able to report out on standards. Observations Survey	Support from Administration, faculty and students
Advance the cleanliness and aesthetic appeal of the Nichols Middle School building and grounds.	NMS Administration NMS Head Custodian NMS Custodial Staff	Summer 2016 through School Year 2016-2017	Observation Survey	Looking to provide full staffing in custodians at NMS