Executive Summary

Executive Summary

In preparation for Jones Cove School's School Improvement Planning, committees were developed which included teachers, support staff, community members, Central Office Supervisory Staff, our local School Board member, and students. A complete listing of those directly involved in committee work is located on pages i - ix of this document. In addition to those listed, we enlisted the help of our community, teachers, students, and parents in the survey stages of our study. We have been able to establish a Jones Cove School Support Group that meets on the first Tuesday of each month where we can share our successes and concerns regarding our School Improvement Plan.

Jones Cove School was last reviewed for Accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in May of 2001. We first reviewed the Southern Association's standards for elementary schools and the standards for middle schools to make sure we were in compliance with both sets of standards since we are a K-8 school. Each committee began with basic information from National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE) and proceeded to gather new information. Since our School Improvement Plan is an on-going process and we are constantly seeking improvement based on our demographic needs, committees reviewed elements of the old SACS study and our School Improvement Plan. Committees either included or deleted information from the summaries as deemed appropriate.

The readers of our November 2001 School Improvement Plan noted several weaknesses in our plan that had to be addressed with revisions and a resubmission to Sevier County Board of Education by June 15, 2002. Two areas were insufficiently developed. Recommendations included a scheduled formal or informal review of the plan with stakeholders and planned recognition of achievements to celebrate SIP accomplishments. We now have several venues for recognition and celebration. We hold weekly assemblies with our students to share accomplishments with praise and encouragement for continued growth toward our goals. We hold Awards days every grading period to further reward our students for behaviors and learning that are consistent with our SIP goals. Our Jones Cove School Support Group meets monthly to offer feedback and support of our programs. Several comments by reviewers prompted us to take a closer look at the organization of our report so that our information was reflected in the components more appropriately. Another comment indicated that we focused too heavily on social and emotional needs to the detriment of academic needs. As a result, we have added some action plans that will further address academic areas that need strengthening. We survey through mailings and hand-delivered requests and have parents and community members serve on committees. We addressed school climate in our survey process for this report and identified needs in parent, community, student, and teacher surveys. We analyzed our performance data on TerraNova and the Tennessee
Writing Assessment. We reviewed our Report Card from the state. For the past three years, and with the help of the school system's Central Office staff, teachers have identified strengths and weaknesses in our teaching then isolated objectives that needed to be emphasized before the TerraNova in the spring. We have completed our Curriculum Mapping/Scope and Sequence for each skill in each grade level. Objectives required by the state and county as well as those tested on the TCAP are marked for reference. In addition, we are using the STAR testing program for placement in our Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math programs. We are continuing to use teacher-made and textbook testing. We have identified weak areas in student performance data and have decided to focus on our weakest areas of Math, Reading, and Language Arts. Timelines, costs, and resources were established as we set our goals. Professional Development has been considered in that we met with Central Office Staff for one week before school began this fall to complete curriulum mapping and share information about methods. We also have a fully operative committee that approves funds for staff development. We have sent teachers to workshops that are designed to strengthen instructional skills in the areas of Math, Language Arts, and Reading. We have arranged to pay for substitutes so our teachers can observe other teachers in their areas and implement new methods that will enhance instruction. All our goals for the Action Plan are linked to the System Strategic Plan and the State Master Plan Goals. Demographic data is still similar to the demographic data collected in previous documents, but we are beginning to see new mobile home parks and some new housing being built as a result of family farms being sold at auction. We are unsure as to how much of an impact this will have on school enrollment in years to come.

The 2001 Report Card showed exemplary gains in Reading, Science, and Social Studies. We had above average gains in Language Arts. Our weakest area with below average gains was Math. While the 2002 Report Card still shows our achievement in Reading, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Math is below average, we have seen improvement in Value Added Gains. We show exemplary gains in every area except Math, and Math gains have increased from below average to average. We know that we must continue to work to meet achievement expectations. We are striving to improve both achievement and value added scores.