Plainfield NJ Maxson 2001 02 End of Year Report

8/3/2019 Plainfield NJ Maxson 2001 02 End of Year Report

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The Plainfield Public Schools, in partnership with its community, shall do whatever it takes for every

student to achieve high academic standards. No Alibis. No Excuses. No Exceptions.

Maxson Middle School

End of the Year Report

SY 2001 - 2002



June 6, 2002

I Introduction

Maxson Middle School currently enrolls approximately 940 students in grades 6 - 8.63 % of Maxson students are free or reduced lunch eligible. 69 % of Maxson students are

African-American; 30% are Latino; 1% are Caucasian.

The Maxson faculty consists of 87 teachers, four(4) full-time and one half-time guidance

counselors as well as a full-time social worker. 34% of the faculty hold masters degrees.

The basic structure of Maxson is currently determined by the four(4) schools of choice

that are currently housed there. A 'school of choice' is defined as a small, theme-based

learning community of no more than 225 students and distinguished by core teachersthat 'loop' with students across the three(3) years and a problem-based, interdisciplinary

curriculum. All Maxson students, at the end of the 5 th grade, choose a school of choice.

This year Maxson offers four(4) school of choice options:, a school of math, science and

technology, a dual language school, a school of careers and a school of global issues.

All Maxson students are cycled through exploratory electives such as art, computer

and Internet applications and foreign language on a semester or marking period basis.

Maxson houses a television studio, a state of the art technology lab, an Internet lab anda third computer lab where students learn the Microsoft Office basics - word processing,

spread sheets, data bases and Power Point. As well, every Maxson classroom has Internetaccess. There are at least two computers in every class. The District’s middle school

bilingual program is also housed at Maxson.

For the last three years, Maxson Middle School has been aligned with the America's

Choice whole-school reform model. The initial emphasis has been on literacy.



In SY 2001 - 2002, mathematics became, as well, an instructional focus. A new

standards-based math program, Connected Math, was introduced for all three grade-levels and special education. A full-time math coach was hired to oversee the

implementation of Connected Math.

We are currently waiting for this year’s GEPA results[See Appendix C for results from

the last three years]. In addition to our writing TAP data, the other significant student

achievement data is from the New Standards New Reference test results. Last year was

the first time that this test was administered to both 7th and 8th graders. And this data wasnot disaggregated by grade level. As a result, the substantial gains in Language Arts from

the previous year were not sustained. With the confounding of the 7th and 8th grade data,

this is in some ways predictable. Those with only two years in the model should not beexpected to perform as well as those with three. The strongest student achievement data

on hand, then, is the writing TAP. There is clear evidence of steady student progress

toward mastery of the standards.

Another strong indicator of student progress is the number of students who read more

than 25 books. The final total will be in the vicinity of 230 students. While only 25% of the school’s population, this figure still represents almost 6000 books and a doubling of

the number of students who met this standard last year.

For SY 2002 – 03, the focus of the Maxson budget and school plan, given the state’s

imposed freeze on new spending, is on strengthening the existing initiatives in language

arts and mathematics. Science, as well, will receive additional support. During SY 2001

– 2002, the LASER science initiative, with its emphasis on inquiry, was extended to themiddle schools. A sufficient amount of materials have already been purchased to ensure

that all science teachers, for at least part of the year, will be able to present high quality,

inquiry-based science to all students.

The budgetary support of literacy is two-fold: to increase the holdings of the book room,

that is, the supply of books on which all language arts teachers draw for their whole-classnovels; and, to expand classroom libraries to include leveled books, those written for

students reading below grade level. The school’s library, however, will not receive funds

for new books this upcoming school year.

Due to budgetary constraints, technology will not be a priority this year. The original plan

to purchase additional computers to reduce the computer/student ratio to 1:5 was, again,due to the new spending freeze, abandoned.

The most significant budgetary issue, however, for next year is Maxson’s inability to

support an extended day program. This was the case for the current school year andwill be for next year as well. The absence of funds has placed on the school the burden

of developing within the existing school day an alternate solution to the problem. This

year, ramp up supports were provided within the school day. The current thinking isto continue with this arrangement, however limited in scope, but to supplement it with



a more effective use of the after school time currently available as part of the regular

school day.

The year’s most significant development in our efforts to provide more consistentsupports to struggling students has been the establishment of the Student Family Support

Services team. A district initiative, this building-level group consists of the social worker,guidance counselors, nurse, a child study team representative, an administrator and thereferring teacher. The team’s aim is to identify struggling students and develop effective

support interventions.

II Accountability Profile[See Appendix A for a summary of rubric scores for each

accountability goal]

Goal 1: Improve student achievement through instructional rigor and alignment with the

NJCCCS.

Score: 1[Basic]

Discussion

Maxson has made significant progress in deepening and extending the

implementation of the America’s Choice literacy model. The chart belowillustrates the progress that has been made as determined by the America’s Choice Qu

An even higher level of implementation can be found in Maxson’s mathematics classrooms

Summary of America’s Choice Quality Review Assessment

[Five Point Rubric: 0: not in place; 1: getting started; 2: moving along;

3: almost there; 4: fully implemented]

Rubric Score Fall 01 Spring 02

<1 48% 29%

> 3 26% 40%



The strongest indication of the effectiveness of these implementation efforts is TAP[Targe

The chart below compares the results of the TAP I assessment, which isadministered in September, with those of TAP III, which is administered in May.

A significant trend can be illustrated as follows: ● 6th Grade: TAP I, Level 3 or higher – 10%

TAP III, Level 3 or higher – 53%

● 7th Grade: TAP I Level 3 or higher – 13%

TAP III Level 3 or higher – 49%

● 8th Grade: TAP I Level 3 or higher – 27%

TAP III Level 3 or higher – 71%

Target Assessment Process/WritingSY 2001 – 2002

[NR: no response; FR: fragment; OT: off topic]

6th NR FR OT 1 2 3 4 5 6

TAP I 0 1 44 57 51 19 2 0 0TAP III 0 0 2 24 61 69 22 7 0

7th NR FR OT 1 2 3 4 5 6

TAP I 3 11 46 128 114 31 6 0 0TAP III

1 0 24 31 133 101 20 1 0

8th NR FR OT 1 2 3 4 5 6

TAP I 0 5 24 59 97 53 14 2 0TAP III 0 1 15 14 46 105 68 7 0

As was mentioned in the introduction, the New Reference test data, organized by math

and language arts in the charts below, is an imperfect indicator of student progressdue to the aggregation of the 7th and 8th grade results. Nonetheless, these results, as

well, indicate the known areas of weakness: concepts and problem solving in math and

analysis and interpretation in language arts.


New Reference Results in MathSpring 1999, Spring 2000, Spring 2001*



Skil

ls

Con

cept

s

Pr

obl

em

Solvin

g

1999 2000 2001 1999 2000 2001 1999 2000 2001Achieved

the

Standard

with

Honors

10% 14

%

10% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Achieved

the

Standard

20% 29

%

24% 1% 7% 2% 4% 4% 4%

Nearly

Achieved

the

Standard

26% 21

%

20% 6% 14

%

7% 3% 7% 3%

Below

Standard 23% 20

%

31% 14% 25

%

26

%

25% 28

%

24

%Little

Evidence

of

Standard

21% 15

%

16% 79% 53

%

65

%

8% 61

%

69

%

* Spring 01 scores include 7th grade students at the end of the

year

Maxson School

New Reference Results in ELASpring 1999, Spring 2000, Spring 2001*

Rea

din

g

Wri

ting



Ba

sic

Und

erst

anding

Inte

rpre

tatio

n

andAna

lysis

Effe

ctive

ness

Con

vent

ions

199

9

200

0

200

1

199

9

200

0

200

1

199

9

200

0

200

1

199

9Achieved

the

Standard

with

Honors

0% 1% 1% 0% 3% 1% 0% 0% 1% 0%

Achievedthe

Standard

25% 48% 42% 5% 29% 19% 25% 34% 26% 45%

Nearly

Achieved

the

Standard

50% 37% 46% 34% 37% 42% 62% 52% 61% 43%

Below

Standard25% 13% 11% 60% 31% 38% 12% 14% 11% 12%

Little

Evidence

of

Standard

0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

● Spring 01 scores include 7th grade students at the

end of the yearGoal 2: Community Engagement

Score: 2[Partially Proficient]

Discussion:

The Maxson LINCC has representation from all school constituencies, save a

community member. There are a total of 14 members. The overall attendance

rate is 84%. Unlike last year, parent participation has been consistently high.The average attendance rate for all four of the participating parent was 84%.

See Appendix E for LINCC attendance data.

A year-long calendar of events is distributed in September at Back To School

Night and mailed to those who do not attend. This calendar also appears in the

students’ agenda notebooks. Additionally, a calendar is sent home monthly



highlighting events for that month. Flyers immediately preceding individual

events are not sent home. Exceptions to this are PTO meetings and any special

events that do not originally appear on the calendar. Technology has also

been used as a means of communication with parents and guardians. A parentdistribution list has been established that contains the email addresses of more

than 130 parents and guardians. Communications are sent via email as well ashand carried by students. The school's marquee, web-site and public addresssystem are also employed.

Our translation of communications into Spanish has been consistentthroughout the year. With only a few exceptions, communications, including

the monthly calendars, have been sent home in Spanish as well as English. For

next year, we have again budgeted to hire three faculty or staff members totranslate all school to home communications.

● School Partners

Our current school partners the National School Community Corp, DARE and

Girl Scouts. The latter two provide a modest after school component for at

risk students.

● Opportunities for Involvement

Besides their monthly meetings and the opening of school picnic for families

and faculty that was attended by 150 people, the PTO has sponsored an array

of events designed to support parents and guardians in their ability to supporttheir children, both academically and socially. Most of this work has been

done in the area of standards – ensuring parents and guardians understand

what is expected academically of their children. This has been the thirdconsecutive year that this issue has been a programming priority for the PTO.

A unique addition this year was a workshop with an explicit focus on raising

parents’ awareness about the GEPA exam and the nature of its tasks. There

are plans to continue this attention to GEPA in the upcoming year though in amore expanded way. As well, a series of three workshops for parents around

the issue of conflict resolution – how to help one’s children manage conflict

in a more even way – were offered in conjunction with the New Jersey Bar Foundation. The list of all workshops and attendance is below.

PTO-sponsored Workshops for Parents and Guardians

SY 2001 - 02

Event Attendance

Connected Math Workshop 16

Persuasive Writing Workshop 11

GEPA Workshop 4

Conflict Resolution Workshops[3] 10, 21, 33



Lastly, this was the first year that the school – outside of the PTO – sponsored

workshops for parents. Significantly, the aim of these two workshops wasto respond to the needs of typically neglected populations – bilingual and

special needs students. The workshop for bilingual parents was on enabling

them to think of college as a viable option for their children, despite their

inclination to think otherwise. There are already plans to continue and extendthis effort next year. For special needs parents and guardians, the workshop

was entitled ‘Understanding Your Special Needs Child’. The emphasis was on

helping parents and guardians see the world through the eyes of children withlearning disabilities.

School-sponsored Workshops for Parents and Guardians

SY 2001 - 02

Event Attendance

Nurturing College Aspiration of BilingualStudents 5 families

Understanding Your Special Needs Child 13 families

● Diversity:

One consistent way that issues of diversity are addressed is through the

purchase and use of novels for language arts classes that reflect – either by

author or subject matter or both – the cultural experience of the school’sdominant ethnic or racial groups. Currently, Maxson’s book room holdings

consist of 53 different adolescent novels. The number of copies of each

title varies from 10 – 150. Of these titles, almost 60% are either written by

or about people of color. Three titles concern issues having to do with theHolocaust.

53 Titles

# of titles by or about African-Americans 25

# of titles by or about Latinos 5

# of titles by or about Native Americans 1

# of titles about the Holocaust 3

An attention to issues of diversity is commonly understood as celebrating

the accomplishments, heroes and holidays of different groups. For Maxson,Black History Month is filled with various acknowledgements of famous or noteworthy African-Americans. This year, in honor of the 100th anniversary

of the birth of Langston Hughes, an assembly program was developed that

featured both students and faculty presenting their interpretations of Hughes’s poems.

The same attention, however, is not paid to noteworthy Latinos and their



accomplishments.

Lastly, in light of the gang-related concerns that surfaced this Fall, the

school developed a series of information sessions and trainings for the wider community, faculty and students to raise awareness about what could be done

to combat this issue. Three sessions were held for the community. One wasattended by 180 people; the other two by five and three, respectively.

Goal 3: Comprehensive Supports

Score: 1[Basic]

Discussion:

The strength of Maxson’s efforts to provide students with comprehensive

supports is it School and Family Support Services[SFSS] team.

For SY 2001 – 02, the caseload of Maxson’s SFSS team, in its first year of existence,

Monthly SFSS Schedule

SY 2001 - 02

MAXSON MIDDLE SCHOOL

Student and Family Support Services

The SFSS Team has been established to organize district resources to meet the Abbott mandates,

which requires the mechanisms by which schools work with the community to:

√ Intervene with individual students

√ Increase and integrate the use of social services and resources

√ Implement effective systems for referrals and case management

SFSS referrals can be made by anyone including parents, guardians and teachers. Referral forms are

available in the Main Office, from the Social Worker, or a Guidance Counselor.

The following monthly meeting schedule has been established:

TUESDAY, WEEK I: 9:00AM—10:00AM CASH

10:00AM—11:00AM ALAS Adm.: Mr. Lopez

TUESDAY, WEEK II: 9:00AM—10:00AM RB

10:00AM—11:00AM MIT Adm.: Ms. Blowe

TUESDAY, WEEK III: 9:00AM—10:00AM CASH

10:00AM—11:00AM ALAS Adm.: Mr. Lopez



TUESDAY, WEEK IV: 9:00AM—10:00AM RB

10:00AM—11:00AM MIT Adm.: Ms. Blowe

The larger challenge, however, is to ensure the team’s effectiveness. The central question he

Included in the Appendices is a sample of the reports that the Global Network Campus[G

Another dimension of the work of providing comprehensive supports planned for next year i

Summer school, as well, is a dimension of the comprehensive supports. Appendix F c

Lastly, the absence of an extended day program, due to budgetary constraints, is the primary

Goal 4: Effective and Efficient Operations


Discussion:

The Violence and Vandalism Report data reported in the chart below indicate that inc

Violence and Vandalism Report Summary

Violence Vandalism Substance Abuse Weapons

SY 2001 – 02 4 3 0 3

SY 2000 – 01 7 11 7 2

SY 1999 – 00 7 2 1 0

SY 1998 – 99 3 0 0 0

SY 1997 – 98 4 1 2 3

Five(5) Year Total: 60 Incidents

Yearly Average: 12

While the overall number of fights, the disciplinary infraction most disruptive to the educati

Suspensions for Fighting Summary

M

a

l e

Female Total

SY 2001 – 2002 111 32 143



SY 2000 - 2001[ 8 mos] 120 38 158

SY 1999 – 2000 154 59 213

SY 1998 – 1999 100 42 142

In the area of timeliness of the school’s response to parent requests for

information, the results of a parent survey indicate there is work to be done. Only 54% of par

Similarly, a second survey of parents and guardians indicates that knowledge of school poli

On the issue of the timely purchase of instructional materials, Maxson can claim only that e

The issue of the purchase and receipt of materials for new teachers is a slightly different m

Goal 5: Staffing


Discussion:

In the area of staff development, the focus is clear. Department meetings, teacher meetings, h

One cost, maybe the only one, to this narrow professional development focus on standards i

Teacher retention over the course of last school year and this year has been stable. 83%

Maxson has developed its own model of new teacher support, the New Teachers Learning C

Lastly, in the area of social and emotional learning, this was something of a breakthrou

Goal 6: Governance


Discussion:

The Maxson LINCC has representation from all school constituencies, save a community

The fully operational nature of LINCC is best illustrated by the manner in which the Accoun

III Other Data

Attendance

Both student and faculty/staff attendance exceed the state's daily attendance standard of



90%.

Attendance Data

Students Faculty/Staff

SY 1998 - 1999 93.5% 95.5%

SY 1999 - 2000 94% 96%

SY 2000 - 2001 94% 97%

SY 2001 – 2002 93.4% 97%



Appendix A

Summary of Accountability Plan Rubric Scores

Goals June 01 March 02

I 1 1

II - 2

III - 1

IV - 2V 1 2

VI 1 2

Category Total Rubric Points

Overall Score[as of 3/02]: Basic 10



Appendix B


Writing TAP Results

September 2001-May 2002

Appendix C

Percent of Students Scoring in the Three GEPA[99, 00, 01] Proficiency Categories

Results for General Education Students

Part ially

Pro

ficie

nt

Pro ficie

nt

Ad va

nc

ed

Pr ofi

cie

nt



99 00 01 02 99 00 01 02 99 00 01 02

Language

Arts

44.6 41.3 50.2 39.9 55 58.7 49.8 58.6 .0

4

0 0 1.

5

Math 73 70.6 58.6 62 24.3 28.2 38.2 33 2.7

1.3 3.2

4.9

Appendix D

Maxson Middle School ELA Profile



Partially

Proficient

Proficient Advanced

Proficient

GEPA 2001

50% 49.8% 0%

Little

Evidence

of theStandard

Below the

Standard

Nearly

Achieved

theStandard

Achieved

the

Standard

Achieved the

Standard

with Honors

NSRE 2001

0% 11% 46% 42% 1% Rdg: Basic Understand

0% 38% 42% 19% 1% Rdg: Analysis/

Interpretation

0% 11% 61% 26% 1% Wtg: Effectiveness

8% 32% 44% 15% 1% Wtg: Conventions

Basic Proficient Advanced NJPASS 200177% 22% 1%

Maxson Middle School Math ProfileSchool Year 2001-2002

Partially

Proficient

Proficient Advanced

Proficient

GEPA 2001

58.6% 38.2% 3.2%

Little

Evidence

of the

Standard

Below the

Standard

Nearly

Achieved

the

Standard

Achieved the

Standard

Achieved the

Standard

with Honors

NSRE 2001

16% 31% 20% 24% 10% Mathematical Skills

65% 26% 7% 2% 0% MathematicalConcepts

69% 24% 3% 4% 0% Problem Solving

Basic Proficient Advanced NJPASS 200171% 26% 3%

Appendix E

Maxson LINCC Attendance



SY 2001 - 2002

09/19/2001

10/16/

2001

10/23/

2001 10/30/2001 11/27/2001 12/11/2001

0

2

Parent X X X X X

Teacher X X X X X X

Teacher X X X X

Administrator X X X X

Parent X X X X

Teacher X

Teacher X X X

Teacher X X X X

Administrator X X X X X X

Parent X X X

Teacher

Teacher X X X X X X

Parent X X X

Support Staff X X X X

ATTEND.

01/29/2002

02/12/

2002

02/26/

2002 03/12/2002 03/26/2002 %

Parent X X X X X 100%

Teacher X X X X X 100%

Teacher X X X 58%

Administrator X X X X X 75%

Parent X X X X X 83%

Teacher X X X

X 75%


Teacher X X X X 67%

Administrator X X X X X 100%

Parent X X X X 78%


Teacher 100%

Parent 75%

Support Staff X X X X X 83%

84%

Appendix F

Summer School 2001

# of students # of students # of students # of students



invited successfully

completing

summer school

promoted

to next

grade after

successfully

completing

summerschool

retained in

grade level, 9/1/

01

6 116 84 52 32

7 69 46 11 35

8 8 3 - 3

Total 193

Impact of Promotion and Retention Policy

# of retained studentspromoted in January 02 # of retained studentspromoted in June 02

6 5 2

7 16 1

Percentage of retained 7th graders returning to grade level before the end of the school

year:

● 6th grade 7th grade: 22%

● 7th grade 8th grade: 49%

Summer School 2002

# of

students

invited

Of these,

# of

students

attending

Of these, #

of students

dropped

from

# of

students

promoted

to next

# of

students

who

succes

# of

students

dropped

or not



summer

school

2001

summer

school for

attendance

or

discipline

reasons

grade after

successfully

completing

summer

school.

sfully

completed

summer

school

and began

school yearretained in

grade level,

9/1/02

successfully

completing

summer

school,

begin the

year ingrade level

without

possibility

of mid-year

promotion

6 86 88

7 100 99

8 46 48

Total: 232 235**

** The number of students actually attending is higher than those initially invited due toseveral late additions.

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Plainfield NJ Maxson 2001 02 End of Year Report