John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School: May 2014

NMS School Improvement Plan 2014-2015

Last Thursday evening, May 15, Mr. Geoghegan presented the John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School School Improvement Plan to the MPS School Committee.

He first presented this short introductory video:

The Improvement Plan Video Preview (Movie Trailer Style)

He then presented this video where he asked teachers and students to comment on some of the goals from the School Improvement Plan from 2013-2014 to help us as School Council to build our School Improvement Plan for 2014-2015.

NMS School Improvement Plan Video

Attached below is our School Improvement Plan for 2014-2015. Please read it over to see some the directions we are hoping to move the Nichols in the upcoming school year.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call or email: mgeoghegan@middleboro.k12.ma.us

Thank you,
M. R. Geoghegan

Middleborough Public Schools

John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School

School Improvement Plan

2014-2015

John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School

2013-2014 Council Members

Mr. Martin R. Geoghegan, Principal

Mrs. Lynn McManus, Parent Representative

Mrs. Gina Philie, Parent Representative

Mrs. Deborah Walgreen, NMS Faculty and Parent

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 2014-2015 School Improvement Plan’s Goals are:

To increase our integration of 21^st Century Learning (Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity) into our day-to-day instruction and to continue to educate our student body for the world they reside and their future;

To continue to improve our instructional strategies with our students within core classes as well as in our support/enrichment periods of DIAL (Differentiated Instruction And Learning); and

To continue to advance the culture of the Nichols Middle School by fostering more mutual partnerships among students, families, staff, and the community.

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

2014-2015 NMS School Improvement Plan

School Goal #1: To increase our integration of 21^st Century Learning, including the greater use of technology, into our day-to-day instruction and to continue to educate our student body for the world they reside and their future.

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

Performance Target: Teach for 21^st Century Learning in conjunction with implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) 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.

Action Plan/ Improvement Strategies	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline	Measurement and Outcomes	Resource(s) and/or Funding Source
Utilize the teaching and use of technology to improve learning through more advanced usage of: BrightLinks Projection units, Google Drive/Apps (to be a “Google School”), Wi-Fi, Tablets, eBooks, and Change the NMS Media Center into more of a flexible learning center.	NMS Administration Technology Department Secondary Directors (STEM and Humanities) NMS Faculty and Staff NMS Technology Coaches NMS Media Center Librarian	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Wi-Fi throughout the building Utilization of more Google Apps Changing of the Media Center Academic assessments STE MCAS scores	Support from Administration, Technology, and professional development More technology in the form of tablets eBook access Furniture in Media Center
To continue to work with all of our classes to be structured for 21^st Century learning for our students by improving: · Curriculum maps as we update and modify to reflect data, research-based, standards-driven units of study within each core subject area of: · Math with our Digits curricula; · Science Curricula with the Discovery Education series; · Social Studies with more current events and Civics in the 8^th Grade; and · English Language Arts (ELA) with our two courses of ELA1 and ELA2.	NMS Administration Secondary Directors (STEM and Humanities) NMS Faculty and Staff NMS Technology Coaches	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Curriculum maps Academic assessments	Support from Administration, Technology, and professional development More technology in the form of tablets
Action Plan/ Improvement Strategies	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline	Measurement and Outcomes	Resource(s) and/or Funding Source
Continue to develop our Unified Arts technology course, “Tech Integration” to better integrate technology into our core classes of English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.	NMS Administration Secondary Directors (STEM and Humanities) NMS Technology Teacher NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Academic assignments and assessments	Time for Tech Integration Teacher to work with core subject teachers

School Goal #2: To continue to improve our instructional strategies with our students within core classes as well as in our support/enrichment periods of DIAL (Differentiated Instruction And Learning).

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

Performance Target: Differentiated instruction applies an approach to teaching and learning that gives students multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas. Work towards meeting each and every student where they are with their learning in all classes. Utilize the DIAL period better for support, remediation, assistance, and enrichment.

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 Secondary Directors (STEM and Humanities) NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Academic assignments and assessments Common assessments in core subject areas Classroom observations	PLC and PD Time Support from Administration, Technology, and professional development
Develop, study, and utilize initial and on-going assessments of student readiness and growth.	NMS Administration Secondary Directors (STEM and Humanities) NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Data Walls MCAS and growth scores Common assessments in core subject areas Classroom observations	PLC and PD Time Support from Administration, Technology, 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 the DIAL period for remediation, support, assistance, and enrichment.	NMS Administration Secondary Directors (STEM and Humanities) NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Data Walls MCAS and growth scores Common assessments in core subject areas Classroom observations Track DIAL data	PLC and PD Time Support from Administration, Technology, and professional development

School Goal #3: To continue to advance the culture of the Nichols Middle School by fostering more mutual partnerships among students, families, staff, and the community.

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 Nichols school community through better use of technology, more advanced planning and development of our communication, the continued development of student-led conferences and standards-based grading 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 Parent Portal, School’s website, Principal’s blog, Other social media, and AlertNow.	NMS Administration Secondary Directors (STEM and Humanities) NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Look into using other means to advance our use of technology to increase communication home Data collected from sites Survey	Support from Administration, Technology, and professional development
Increase family involvement in student academic ventures with Student-Led Conferences in both sixth and seventh grade.	NMS Administration Secondary Humanities Director NMS ELA2 Teachers	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	More parent involvement in Spring Parent-Teacher Conferences Observation Survey	Support from Administration, faculty and students ELA2 classes
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 a standards-based report card.	NMS Administration Secondary Directors (STEM and Humanities) NMS ELA2 Teachers NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Improve our teaching toward the standards to then be able to report out on this Observation Survey	Support from Administration, faculty and students ELA2 classes Unified Arts classes
Improve our celebration of positive PR (Public Relations) with the Middleborough community.	NMS Administration Secondary Directors (STEM and Humanities) NMS Faculty and Staff	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Monitor ways to publicize positive events at the Nichols Middle School	Support from Administration, faculty and students
Advance the cleanliness and aesthetic appeal of the Nichols Middle School building and grounds.	NMS Administration District Maintenance Director NMS Custodial Staff	Summer 2014 through School Year 2014-2015	Observation Survey	Professional development for our custodial staff

2013-2014 John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School Council

Are you interested in getting involved with your child’s education in another way besides PTA or fundraising? Would you like to be more involved in the academic aspects and decision making of your child's education here at Nichols? If you are, then seriously consider whether you would be interested in joining the Nichols Middle School Council (also called a School Improvement Council). By law, every school in the country has to have a School Council.

The law outlines four major areas of responsibility for councils. School councils are to assist principals in:

Adopting educational goals for the school that are consistent with local educational policies and statewide student performance standards;
Identifying the educational needs of students attending the school;
Reviewing the annual school building budget; and
Formulating a school improvement plan.

We meet once a month on the 3^rd Wednesday of each month, except where specified below – our next meeting is on Wednesday, May 21, for about an hour, beginning at 3:00 PM and ending around 4 PM, to discuss such items as our School Improvement Plan, parent involvement, how we are working with MCAS data, what we are doing to improve teaching and learning, different curricular ideas, courses, etc. In all, the group is not like the “PTA”; it is more a group of people who are looking into school improvement and how we can get the improvement we are looking for.

This month's meeting will be centered on putting the finishing touches on our School Improvement Plan.

The group is made up of parents, teachers, and at least one community member. If you are interested or would just like to come and check it out, please come to our next meeting, Wednesday, May 21, at 3 PM, in the NMS Main Office Conference Room or email me at mgeoghegan@middleboro.k12.ma.us. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Incoming 6th Grade Parent Informational Meeting on Thursday, May 29 at 6 PM in HBB Auditorium

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

NMS School Improvement Plan 2014-2015 Presentation to School Committee

NMS School Council Meeting on Wednesday, May 21, at 3 PM in the NMS Main Office Conference Room

8th Grade End of the Year Events Calendar

Monday, May 12, 2014

ROAR Award Winners for April 2014

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