1. DATA RETREAT PRINCIPAL’S MID-YEAR REPORT 2009-10 Vandercook Lake Middle School Principal: Renee Rudloff Subject Area: Writing

2. GOAL All teaching staff at VCL will improve skills in the writing process in all ELA grade levels 6-12, so that 80% of students show proficient and advanced levels on the 7th grade 2010 MEAP Writing while accelerating the performance of students with disabilities so that 60% show proficient and advanced levels. In addition, 61% of students in 11th grade will achieve proficiency in order to reach AYP, while accelerating the performance of students with disabilities so that a 15% raise from 2009 will be seen in the writing proficiency in 2010 MME. Also, our district will administer a writing assessment three times each year in grades 6-12 (7th grade will test twice). The average score should increase one rubric level between the pre and post test. What group of students is targeted with this goal: All students in grades 6-12

3. Objective 1 All ELA teachers 6-8 will develop and implement a writing assessment which will be administered three times during the school year to measure improvement in the writing process.

4. Evidence of Action Common Theme for the Writing Prompts: CHOICES K-6 = Narrative Prompt 7-12 = Persuasive Prompt September (Pre Assessment) = Prompt A February (Mid Assessment) = Prompt B May (Post Assessment) = Either A or B

5. Evidence of Action (continued) Writing Prompts: Choice September 6 th Grade: Write about a time you made a choice and it turned out well. or Write about a time you made a choice and it didn’t turn out well. 7 th Grade: (No prompt given due to MEAP Writing) 8th Grade: How do cell phones affect the atmosphere of a classroom? Pick a side and support your answer with specific details.

6. Evidence of Action (continued) Writing Prompts: Choice February 6 th Grade Write about a time someone made a choice for you and it turned out well. or Write about a time someone made a choice for you and it didn’t turn out well. 7 th /8 th Grade Do you feel that nutrition break was a benefit to your education and well being or do you think eliminating this break was the right decision? Pick a side and support your answer with specific details.

7. Evidence of Action (continued) Writing prompts given on Sept. 21-25 Staff training on scoring prompts using the ACT Rubric Writing prompts scored by entire staff using the ACT Rubric (grades 7-12), and MEAP Rubric (grade 6) Future prompts given in February and May

8. Is It Working? Common Initiative Among All Staff Writing Data for This Year (no MEAP scores) Evaluation of Scores and Discussion of Possible Interventions Will Be Added to Data Director

9. Objective 2 Teachers will create a common format 6-12, which will unify teaching practices within the writing process as assessed through the MEAP and MME.

10. Evidence of Action Discussion/notes from monthly meetings In-progress for 2 nd semester

11. Is It Working? Discussion / Ideas during monthly meetings

12. Objective 3 ELA teachers will develop an organizational structure for teaching grammar in grades1-11, to improve the grammar portion on the ACT.

13. Evidence of Action Structure for teaching grammar created in November. GLCE’s/HSCE’s used as a reference for this structure.

14. Grammar Structure Grades 1-11

15. Grammar Structure Grades 1-11 continued

16. Is It Working? Teachers planning curriculum maps for implementation in 2010-11 Sharing of creative ideas in teaching grammar.

17. What’s Next? Evaluation of writing prompt scores Progress Monitoring Visit