Huron County Rural Schools
School Improvement
Progress Report
2007-2008

Introduction

During the 2007-2008 school year the School Improvement Team focused on: School to Work program, art and music programs, Quiz Bowl, maintaining the web page, 3-5 year plan, Positive Behavior Support, English and Language Arts curriculum, maintaining the science boxes including the health curriculum, and updating our Social Studies curriculum.

School to Work

A school to work program is in place for all grades using Planning Your Future worksheets. Eighth grade students visited the Huron County Correctional Facility and the Huron Area Technical Center to explore career options, which will help them plan their high school curriculum.

Art and Music Programs

The art program remained the same. A new music teacher was hired for the 07-08 school year. 

Quiz Bowl

This year the Rural Schools competed in Quiz Bowl. Students in grades 6-8 participated and were well represented as they brought home several trophies.

Web Page

The Huron County Rural Schools webpage continues to be updated on a monthly basis. Each school added their budget to their web page.   

3-5 year Plan

The 3-5 year plan was evaluated and the goals remain as follows:   

·        to improve mathematics scores on the MEAP test.  A ten percent increase was achieved on the 2007 MEAP Mathematics Assessment.

·         improve data collection, analysis, and interpretation.  All teachers attended a workshop conducted by HISD personnel to learn techniques to evaluate data.  These techniques were used to evaluate MEAP, DIBELS, and AIMSweb scores. 

·         to create a positive behavior plan. 

Positive Behavior Support

A Positive Behavior Support Plan was developed called RARE (Responsible and Respectful to Everyone.) This is a written plan detailing expected behaviors from students and the rewards they may earn for displaying good behavior.  This plan has been improved and lesson plans will be implemented.  Data collection on individual behaviors will be collected evaluated to look for better practices.

English Language Arts Curriculum

A revised writing curriculum was developed with lesson plans to be implemented during the 08-09 school year with an emphasis on writing skills and specific genres based on grade level genre sequences from the Michigan Department of Education and ideas from the Student Achievement Model (SAM).

Science Boxes and Health Curriculum

The science boxes were evaluated, updated, and resupplied. Health lesson plans are integrated into the science curriculum.

Social Studies

A study of Social Studies curriculum (GLCEs) was conducted and new textbooks were evaluated.  The new Social Studies curriculum will be implemented in the 08-09 school year.

Conclusion

The 2007-2008 school year was busy, yet productive. We are striving to improve instruction for our students which will lead to improved student performance.