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CHAPTER 5 Overfelt High School Action Plan

Action Plan Process The Action Plan was created by synthesizing input from the WASC Focus Groups and Home Groups, input that included evidence, data, and opinions from all members. Additionally, the 2009 interim WASC report action goals, the current academic needs, and the Single Site Plan 2011 were taken into consideration. From all of these sources, the WASC leadership team identified four general areas of focus:

• Student Academic Achievement and Performance • Academic Culture and Climate/Student Behavior/Safety • College Readiness and Career Preparedness • Communication and involvement of parents and the community

The WASC leadership team presented the proposed action plan goals with their rationales to the department chair group for its feedback. Once consensus was reached regarding the proposed goals, this group discussed and recommended specific actions to support each goal. These recommendations were compiled and refined by the WASC leadership team and presented to Home Groups for a final response. The proposed action plan was shared at five different meetings for feedback:

• The Staff Leadership Team reviewed the action plan, January 18. • School Site Council included both parent and student input, January 29 • 18.4 meeting, February 3 • Staff feedback in small groups throughout the day, February 9 • Student Home Group took place, February 14

On Wednesday, February 15, the final draft of the action plan was presented to the department chairs, who gave their approval to accept the action plan as presented. The Plan Overfelt High School’s Action Plan is divided into two parts. The first part presents our ongoing work, which has played a significant role in the progress we have made over the past six years. The second part focuses on the community stakeholders’ recommendations, which were derived from the formal WASC self-evaluation process. Part 1: Ongoing Work The strengths identified below will not show up as actions steps in Part Two of the school’s action plan. However, the staff and school community have expressed a strong desire to see these strengths continue as we move forward. Overfelt is committed to continuing the collaborations, efforts, and resource allocations that helped make these items successful.

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A. Organization: Vision and Purpose, Governance, Leadership, Staff, And Resources Strengths: • Ability to acquire resources to support critical academic needs • Broad and open access to decision-making process • Regular collaboration time • Master Schedule driven by student needs and school vision • New facilities and current technology • Commitment to hiring and maintaining a highly-qualified staff

B. Standards-Based Learning: Curriculum Strengths: • More AP and high-level courses have been established. • Counseling department focuses on individualized fulfillment of A-G and graduation

requirements, as well as facilitates the university application process. • A network of in-house and outside providers support student learning. • Articulation among the high school, feeder schools, and higher education, especially with

counseling department, has improved. • Teachers continually reflect individually and collectively on their teaching practices to

improve student learning and achievement.

C. Standards-Based Learning: Instruction Strengths: • Students with diverse backgrounds and abilities are learning at a high level. • Students are involved in learning and achieving standards and ESLR’s. • Instruction in many areas provides real-world application and experience. • Structured learning provides instructional consistency and allows for differentiation.

D. Standards-Based Learning: Assessment Strengths: • Within each department and class, a wide variety of assessments are employed that take

into consideration student learning styles. • We mobilize staff and resources to motivate, empower, and hold students accountable on

high-stakes testing. • The small learning community structure and organization provide opportunities to

develop interdisciplinary units of study and projects with varied formative and summative assessments.

E. School Culture and Support for Student Personal and Academic Growth Strengths: • Staff who care and support student learning and well-being • Staff, students, and support services that maintain a safe campus • Opportunities for parent involvement in school planning and activities • Organizations that help keep all levels of students academically and socially on track

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Glossary AACI Asian Americans for Community Involvement is a non-profit organization that provides

on-site counseling for students. AMO Annual Measurable Outcome APA Associate Principal, Administration who is responsible for attendance, facilities, campus

climate and school safety. APED Associate Principal of Educational Development API Academic Performance Index A single number, ranging from a low of 200-1000 which

reflects a school’s performance level based on the results of statewide testing, specifically the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program and the California High School Exit examination (CAHSEE).

ARCC Alum Rock Counseling Center is a non-profit organization that provides on-site counseling for students.

ASB Associated Student Body. Collectively all students of Overfelt are considered to make up the ASB. The term is also used to refer to the students elected to office.

ASEP American Sport Education Project provides comprehensive courses and resources for those who seek to become coaches in high school.

AVID Advancement Via Individual Determination is an elementary through postsecondary college readiness system that is designed to increase school-wide learning and performance.

AWL Academic Word List was developed by Averil Coxhead of the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The list is comprised of words that appear most widely across the content areas in schools and colleges.

AYP Adequate Yearly Progress is a series of annual academic performance goals established for each school.

BTSA Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment is a State funded program designed to support the professional development of newly-credentialed, beginning teachers and to help them fulfill the requirement for the California Clear Multiple and single subject credentials.

BVAL Blossom Valley Athletic League governing organization for our sports teams. CAHSEE California High School Exit Exam must be passed by all students in order to earn a

high school diploma. The test consists of three sections: reading, writing and mathematics and is administered to 10th graders.

Cal-SOAP California Student Opportunity and Access Program was established by the state legislature to improve the flow of information about postsecondary education and financial aid while raising the achievement levels of low-income, elementary and secondary school students or geographic regions with documented low-eligibility or college participation rates and who are first in their families to attend college.

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CAPP California Academic Partnership Program was established by the CA legislature and is administered by the California Status University to develop cooperative efforts to improve the academic quality of public middle and high school education and improve access to and preparation for college for all students.

CASN Career Academy Support Network provides information and resources to support our efforts in establishing our small learning communities.

CCOC Central County Occupational Center offers off-site career technical education for 11th and 12th graders.

CCPY California Community Partners for Youth provides a yearlong mentoring program for identified at-risk students that includes experiential trips and the opportunity to remain involved in the program for four years.

CELDT California English Language Development Test is given as an initial assessment to newly enrolled students whose primary language is not English and as an annual assessment to English learners

CLAD Cross-cultural, Language, and Academic Development certification COSMOS California State Summer School for Mathematics and Sciences is a summer program for

high schools students for the purpose of preparing them for careers in mathematics and sciences. The program at WCO is hosted by UC Santa Cruz.

CPA California Partnership Academies is a three-year program that focuses on small learning communities with a career theme.

CPS ROTC has used Classroom Performance System CSF California Scholarship Federation is a state-wide organization to honor high school

students. Its purpose is to foster high standards of scholarship, service and citizenship. Local chapters are located on the school sites.

CSI Camelot Summer Institute is a summer bridge program designed to help transition incoming ninth grade students for high school success

CST California Standards Tests were designed to measure students’ progress toward achieving California’s state-adopted academic content standards in English-language arts, mathematics, science and history-social science.

CYO California Youth Outreach is a non-profit organization dedicated to reaching out to all gang impacted youth, families and their communities by means of education services, intervention program and resource opportunities that support a positive and healthy lifestyle.

DRP Degrees of Reading Power test is one component of the Connecticut Mastery Test program. DRP tests are single-objective tests measuring how well students understand the surface meaning of what they read. They measure the process of reading rather than products of reading, such as main idea and author’s purpose.

EAOP Early Academic Outreach Program is the University of California’s largest academic preparation program. It works directly with student at underserved schools to increase the number of students who have the opportunity to achieve a college education.

EAP Early Assessment Program was developed by the State Board of Education, California Department of Education and the California State University to provide

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opportunities for students to measure their readiness for college-level English and mathematics in their junior year of high school.

ELD English Language Development refers to classes specifically designed to help students who are in the process of learning English as a second language.

ELG The Expository Literacy Grant works specifically with the English teachers to integrate expository reading and writing into the curriculum. The goals of the grant are to improve the readiness of diverse high school graduates for the academic literacy required by bachelor’s-level college/university coursework and to increase the success rate on the Early Assessment Program (EAP) test. This grant supports the integration of expository reading and writing into the English curriculum

EMQ Eastfield Ming Quong is a non-profit organization that provides a variety of counseling and support services to students.

ERWC Expository Reading and Writing Course is a full-year college preparatory English course for high school juniors or seniors. It addresses critical reading and writing problems identified by the CSU English Placement Test Committee and prepares students to meet the expectation of college and university faculty. The course assignments, which are organized into 14 modules and based mainly on non-fiction texts, emphasize the in-depth study of expository, analytical, and argumentative reading and writing.

ESLR Expected School-wide Learning Results are the overarching goals that a school has for its students.

FAFSA Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This application is required in order to determine eligibility for federal and state financial assistance for college.

FEP Fluent English-Proficient. GRR Gradual Release of Responsibility Model (I do. We do. You do together. You do

independently) has been used as a teaching strategy across the curriculum, new emphasis is being placed on its use to help students become better readers and writers.

HOBA Hands On Bay Area is a non-profit organization that connects volunteers to community projects.

HSC Healthy Start Center coordinates non-academic support services for students. HSLI The High School Leadership Initiative grant is targeted at developing teacher and

administrative leadership and supports the planning and implementation of professional development through our collaboration model.

IEP Individualized Education Plan is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and is designed to meet the unique educational needs of one child, who may have a disability, as defined by federal regulations.

LEA Local Educational Agency is a synonym for a school district MESA Math, Engineering, Science Achievement Club MST Multi-Service Team is a variety of support providers who come together to help

ensure student success.

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NHS National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10 through 12. It honors those students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of scholarship, leadership, service and character.

PI Program Improvement is the formal designation for any Title-1-funded school that has failed to make AYP for two consecutive years.

PLC Professional Learning Community. This is a new leadership team that developed with support from the New Teacher Center in order to oversee the successful implementation of our house model through the planning and implementation of meaningful collaboration.

SES Supplementary Education Services funds have been used to implement afterschool programs and other student oriented academic help. (Progress report p. 3)

SLC Small Learning Communities is a form of school structure that subdivides large school populations into smaller groups of students and teachers.

SOAR The Students Overcoming and Redirecting Program is an independent study program, coupled with mental health treatment for 9th and 10th graders. It is aimed at students who exhibit high truancy and academic failure. As it is a newly instituted program, the success of the program cannot be evaluated at this time.

SOLES Schools Oriented to Latino Educational Success is the focus of a research team from the University of California, Santa Cruz, currently working at Overfelt.

SOS Save Our School club created to help raise money to support teacher projects in the classroom.

SSC School Site Council is responsible for creating, monitoring, and implementing the Single Plan for Student Achievement. The council consists of parents, students, and school staff as prescribed in the bylaws,

SSR Sustained Silent Reading is a 15-minute time period set aside each school day during which students and teachers are encouraged to read for pleasure.

SST Student Support Team that includes the APED, school psychologist, the Special Education Department Chairman, and a counselor. The team meets to assess the student and with input from parents and teachers, the student’s strengths and needs are identified and an action plan created and implemented to put in place the most appropriate support for the student.

SVEF Silicon Valley Education Foundation provides English teachers a grant to support sophomores in passing the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), by providing CAHSEE preparation workbooks, practice tests, and subscriptions to an online CAHSEE practice website.

TAH Teaching American History grant is provided by the U. S. Government. The program is designed to raise student achievement by improving teachers’ knowledge and understanding of and appreciation for traditional U. S. history.

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TES Transcript Evaluation Services UC Office of the President. Using TES counselors meet with students to evaluate past and current grades and determine their progress in meeting A-G requirements. In this review process, counselors help students establish clear pathways to high school graduation and the requirements for college/university admissions.

TLT Teacher Leadership Team responsible for planning and implementing professional development, school-wide lessons and other major school reform efforts.

YWCA Young Woman’s Christian Association provides a mentorship program that seeks to engage, educate and motivate girls to acquire the knowledge and confidence to pursue the career of their interest.

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