Berkshire Elementary

1. Parent and Stakeholder Involvement

ESEA Requirement: The plan must be developed with the involvement of parents and other members of the community to be served and individuals who will carry out such plan, including teachers, principals, other school leaders, paraprofessionals present in the school, administrators (including administrators of programs described in other parts of this title), the local educational agency, to the extent feasible, tribes and tribal organizations present in the community, and, if appropriate, specialized instructional support personnel, technical assistance providers, school staff, if the plan relates to a secondary school, students, and other individuals determined by the school (ESEA § 1114(b)(2)).

Instructions: Please describe the process used for involving parents and all required members of the school community noted above, in the development of this Schoolwide Program Plan. Include details such as when and what kind of stakeholder involvement did or will take place, who was or will be involved and how the involvement has or will occur. 

The school held a Title I meeting on Thursday, August 24th at 7:00 A.M.  Parents and community members were invited to attend.  At the meeting the Title I school wide plan was described and questions and feedback from visitors was provided.

The Berkshire Leadership committee met biweekly to continuously review the 2023-2024 schoolwide plan as well as to develop and revise the plan for 2024-2025.  During these meetings the team reviewed school data to:

• analyze the effectiveness of the school’s systems and structures in meeting the needs of its students

• analyze the academic and behavioral needs of its students and develop responses to those needs

• analyze the needs of the school staff in carrying out its mission and develop responses to those needs.

Stakeholders met with the principal on Thursday, May 30th to review the Schoolwide Plan and provide further feedback regarding the plan.

Optional Stakeholder Involvement Chart:

If you would like to be added to this school’s SWP Planning Committee, please contact Gavin Roddy.

2. Comprehensive Needs Assessment

ESEA Requirement: An eligible school operating a Schoolwide Program shall develop a comprehensive plan that is based on a comprehensive needs assessment of the entire school that takes into account information on the academic achievement of children in relation to the challenging State academic standards, particularly the needs of those children who are failing, or are at-risk of failing, to meet the challenging State academic standards and any other factors as determined by the local educational agency (ESEA § 1114(b)(6)).

Instructions: Summarize the results of the school’s comprehensive needs assessment, including a description of the data sources used. Please describe specific assessment measures/data results that have been or will be used to identify the school specific needs. Include information regarding the academic achievement of students who are failing or most at risk of failing to meet challenging State academic standards and potential causes. Consider including the summarized analysis of all subgroups defined in ESEA Section 1111(c)(2) (students who are economically-disadvantaged, students from major racial and ethnic groups, children with disabilities, and English learners).

For Berkshire’s Comprehensive Needs Assessment, we utilized a variety of data sources (student achievement data):

• From the state level data we utilized the VTCAP and VTSA data administered in April 2023.  The VTCAP data was for grades 3rd-8th and the VTSA data was for grades 5th and 8th.  

• We also used local assessment data in the form of the STAR Math and Reading assessment for Kindergarten through 8th Grade, and the Fountas and Pinnel assessment for Kindergarten through 8th.  

• We also reviewed our school’s behavior and social emotional data which is composed of our Office Discipline Referrals for all students (prek-8th) as well as administrative referrals for all state reportable incidents as collected in PowerSchool.

• We also reviewed the intervention data we have for all students in Math, ELA, and SEL (prek-8th).

• We also reviewed attendance and truancy data (prek-8th).

Summary of Data:

From a whole school level the data indicates both increased academic and behavioral needs for our students. Because last year was the first year of implementation for the VTCAP and there were numerous reported issues with the implementation, this data lacks a point of comparison and may not be indicative of students’ true abilities. For the STAR literacy assessment, the results showed modest improvement in average scores and number of students at or above the benchmark. Consistent improvement was shown for grades K-2, while 3rd-5th grades showed increased averages but also some slight decreases in the number of students scoring at or above grade level. Middle school students showed either stagnation or slight regression in reading from winter to spring. For math benchmarks, the results were far more indicative of positive growth. There was consistent growth from grades K-5 in both average scores and number of students at or above grade level. 8th grade also demonstrated this growth. 6th grade improved in average score from the start of the year and in number of students at or above grade level from winter to spring. 7th grade served as an anomaly in that there was a decrease both in average score and numbers of students performing at or above grade level. The Fountas and Pinnell assessments indicated both a substantial decrease in numbers of students needing to be assessed while a general increase in averages, indicating an increase for the majority of students in reading proficiency. With that said, that majority of students still remained below grade level in math and reading as indicated by the STAR results. Several explanations include:

• The MTSS process for Berkshire needs to be strengthened, particularly at the middle school level. For this past year, the process for moving students into targeted intervention (Level 3) and EST plans (Level 4A) happened predominantly at the K-4 level. This indicates several needs for grades 5-8, including increasing the role that data analysis and standards tracking for our middle school level PLCs (professional learning communities) as well as better aligning our current approach for double dosing (Level 2) and targeted intervention (Level 3) to our MTSS process so that students demonstrating academic deficiencies in key standards receive identification and academic support earlier in school year.

• The impact from class disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020-2022 is still being felt. During this time many students saw their instruction altered through missed school as well as having to shift to both remote and hybrid learning. Although students have begun to make gains since then due to the normal resumption of school, many students are still making up deficits from this time period.

• A continuing trend of student behavioral issues causing class disruptions. Many students at Berkshire Elementary School have struggled with classroom behaviors due to having experienced mental health struggles that come with rural poverty, the disruption caused by the pandemic, and childhood trauma. These disruptions have resulted in a large amount of time spent outside of the classroom for students to receive behavioral intervention from members of the behavioral support team.

• The current instructional capacity of Berkshire Elementary does not meet the current needs of its students. This includes:

  • It was recently discovered that the literacy program currently used for students in grades K-8 has major deficiencies in it, meaning that it is currently not adequately meeting the students’ literacy needs.

  • The continuation of the teacher shortage has resulted in an increasing number of new staff who are unfamiliar with the school’s pedagogy, the student body and their learning needs, the greater needs of the community, or the teaching profession in general.

  • Best practices in education have significantly changed since the pandemic, meaning that many current staff members require additional professional development in best instructional practices, working in PLCs, MTSS structures, and data-driven decision making.

The current attendance data indicates a minimal increase in student attendance (going from 90.63% average attendance in 2022-2023 to 90.83% in 2023-2024). In addition to this, family participation in student learning remains stagnant with only an average of 33% of all families choosing to participate in student-led conferences in November and April. Some of the potential causes for this are:

• Students and families in general continue to be affected by illnesses. This is coupled by the fact that many families continue to be cautious during cold and flu season to not risk sending their children to school if they are experiencing symptoms. 

• Some families struggle economically, making transportation difficult. This might be further exacerbated by the fact that some families work hours that are not aligned with the school day and might require students to miss school due to childcare issues.

• There is a feeling of disenfranchisement from parents and community members, particularly when they themselves struggled academically and therefore feel unable to support their students or unwelcome to participate in their children’s education.

• There is a lack of means for schools, including resources to connect families with,  to support adults in challenges of being a parent

• Students feel a low motivation to participate in school and there are too few incentives for engagement for these students

• There have been increased needs of families, homes, and adults (financial, mental health) that are negatively impacting student engagement and the home’s ability to support engagement

The 2023-2024 data demonstrates an increase in SEL needs for all Berkshire students. This past year there have been 1,759 office discipline referrals. Nearly 600 of these referrals came from 7 students alone. This represents a substantial amount of time that students were out of the classroom due to needing to access members of the behavioral support team. In addition to this, there were 245 state-reportable incidents that required the direct involvement of the principal.  This indicates a major need for Berkshire to better align its current behavior management and SEL practices to the current needs of its students. Some of the potential causes for this data are:

• Berkshire’s current MTSS process for behavioral support needs to be strengthened so that it is more responsive to students needing additional support. This includes a need to restructure the school’s current behavioral support processes, particularly behavioral intervention and behavior support team meetings to be more data driven and have clearer responses for students who continue to struggle behaviorally.

• The current PLC meetings need to focus not just on academic but also behavioral data as well, so as to identify current trends and struggles, and more readily ensure that students are receiving stronger universal SEL instruction as well as targeted SEL intervention.

• A clearer distinction needs to be made between noncompliant behaviors that can be best addressed in the classroom and truly disruptive behavior that necessitates students needing to be referred to the planning room. Coupled with this is the need for the school behavior matrix to shift away from being punitive and built on compliance towards being more restorative and focused on engagement.

• The current SEL program being used has not adequately addressed the students’ needs both in terms of concepts and standards being addressed as well as its ability to be integrated into core content instruction.

• Many students struggle behaviorally due to outside factors such as rural poverty and childhood trauma in addition to a lack of support from home.

3. Schoolwide Plan Strategies

ESEA Requirement: The Schoolwide Plan shall include a description of the strategies that the school will be implementing to address school needs, including a description of how such strategies will – 

• provide opportunities for all children, including each of the subgroups of students (as defined in ESEA § 1111(c)(2)) to meet the challenging State academic standards;

• use methods and instructional strategies that strengthen the academic program in the school, increase the amount and quality of learning time, and help provide an enriched and accelerated curriculum, which may include programs, activities, and courses necessary to provide a well-rounded education; and 

• address the needs of all children in the school, but particularly the needs of those at risk of not meeting the challenging State academic standards (ESEA § 1114(b)(7)(A)(iii)).

Instructions: Describe the comprehensive strategies that the school will use to upgrade the entire educational program to improve achievement of all students, particularly students most at risk of not meeting challenging State academic standards. Proposed strategies should address all three requirement areas noted above. Please include a specific description of each strategy, the need being addressed and the intended objective. Please note that each strategy should clearly be supported by a data driven need included in the comprehensive needs assessment section 2.

To address the academic achievement concerns, Berkshire will continue to work to ensure that:

• all students are engaged in effective Level 1 universal instruction  

• all students have equitable access to effective Level 2 and Level 3 supports during the school day, including time for reteaching key concepts during regular class time and targeted pullout interventions provided by a highly qualified educator

• all students have access to additional opportunities for intervention and enrichment such as the LEAPS morning and after school programs, as well as summer tutoring

• there are dedicated times during the contracted week where classroom teachers and academic interventionists can share data, identify students demonstrating learning needs, and plan instruction and interventions

• teachers have the opportunity to participate in meaningful professional development to focuses on best instructional practices, data-driven instruction, and effective intervention strategies

• Berkshire continues to utilize an instructional coach who can work with new faculty and staff members to establish best practices and increase instructional capacity

• the school improves beginning of the year inservice time to focus on creating supportive and responsive classroom cultures, provide strong Level 1 universal instruction, and increase grade level content and pedagogy expertise for faculty and staff

• Berkshire continues partnerships with professional services to provide professional development to improve instructional capacity

• there are established protocols and times for PLCs to review data and develop instructional plans based on the students’ needs that are built into the school calendar

Further Strategies to address concerns in academic proficiency in Math:

If:

• Teachers utilize assessment tools to help identify specific student academic needs in mathematics, such as STAR Math, IXL, PNOA, OGAP, and receive PD focused on implementing high leverage instructional strategies such as math menu, and math workshop, and problem solving tasks,

• Teachers plan and implement guided math, and success group time to provided targeted and focused interventions  and if those interventions are delivered by high skilled educators and interventionists for students who are not meeting grade level

• Teachers analyze the student work to identify gaps in learning, misconceptions, and plan to address those gaps and misconceptions during PLCs

• Teachers collaborate to design lessons that integrate high yield instructional strategies and group students for further intervention or targeted instruction as aligned by our MTSS system

Then:

There will be a 50% increase in the number of students testing at or above grade level in mathematics as evidenced by the VTCAP, STAR assessment, and HLA assessments by the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

Further Strategies to address concerns in academic proficiency in ELA:

If:

• Teachers utilize assessment tools to help identify specific student academic needs in ELA, such as STAR Reading, IXL, MyView, or Amplify

• Teachers receive PD focused on implementing high leverage instructional strategies in MyView and Amplify

• Teachers plan and implement targeted and focused reteaching and interventions and if those interventions are delivered by high skilled educators and interventionists for students who are not meeting grade level

• teachers analyze the student work to identify gaps in learning, misconceptions, and plan to address those gaps and misconceptions during PLC’s

• teachers will collaborate to design lessons that integrate high yield instructional strategies, plan student groupings for further targeted instruction and intervention as aligned by our MTSS system

Then:

There will be a 50% increase in the number of students reading at or above grade level as evidenced by the VTCAP, STAR assessment, MyView assessments, and Amplify assessments by the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

To address social emotional learning, attendance, and student engagement Berkshire will continue to work to ensure:

• Professional development and coaching is provided to ensure that teachers are using restorative-based practices when addressing misbehavior and creating supportive and relationship-based classroom environments

• The MTSS process for supporting behaviors is strengthened so as to more effectively identify students demonstrating behavior needs and provide them with increasing levels of supports including targeted intervention, behavior and EST plans, and potential referral to exceptional student services

• The current PBIS program at Berkshire Elementary is revisited so as to establish common expectations for all learners in terms of behaviors, common practices for communicating and recognizing this behavior, and a clear distinction between Level 1 behaviors that should be addressed in the classroom, Level 2 behaviors that require use of the planning room, and Level 3 behaviors that require a referral to the principal or assistant principal.

• The current behavior matrix is updated to be more aligned to restorative practices and rely less on exclusionary disciplinary methods

• Teachers receive access to additional professional development in the new SEL curriculum that will be introduced for the 2024-2025 school year

• The current guidance classes provided to students in K-8 focus on reinforcing the SEL lessons taught by core content teachers, particularly through project-based and community-based learning

• Berkshire Elementary School continues to partner with professional services and computer mental health organizations to support SEL instruction and the mental health needs of students

Further Strategies to address concerns in Social Emotional learning, engagement and to promote a safe and healthy school:

If:

• Teachers receive PD on implementing restorative practices, and the school consults with professional service partners to support the development and implementation of these practices

• New teachers receive PD and ongoing coaching on responsive classroom techniques and practices

• Teachers receive PD on social emotional learning as well as ongoing coaching through the school’s instructional coach, guidance counselor, and school-based behavioral consultant

• Berkshire Elementary implements an SEL curriculum with K-8 scope and sequence with fidelity

• The school continues its partnership with professional services to have one or more school-based clinician and school-based behavioral consultant to continue to help improve its students social-emotional skills through general consultation with staff and direct support of specific students in need of increased behavioral interventions

• The MTSS process for behavior is strengthened to devote time for teachers and members of the behavior support team to review data and identify students who are struggling and plan and provide Levels 1 and 2 universal instruction in SEL skills and identify students in need of Level 3 targeted intervention to be provided by the guidance counselor.

• The behavioral support team meetings are restructured so as to allow time to identify school behavior trends as well as clear next steps for members of the team to work with faculty and staff to better support students

• Teachers will analyze the student data to identify gaps in social emotional learning or, misconceptions, and plan to address those gaps and misconceptions during PLC’s 

• Teachers will collaborate to design lessons that provide social emotional learning, as well as plan student groupings for further targeted instruction and intervention during PLC’s

Then:

The number of office discipline referrals will decrease by 33%, and the number of administrative referrals for state-reportable offenses will decrease by 50% as evidenced through our student referral data by the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

4. Evaluation and Revision

ESEA/CFR Requirement: A school operating a Schoolwide Program must-

• determine whether the Schoolwide Program has been effective in increasing the achievement of students in meeting the challenging State academic standards, particularly for those students who had been furthest from achieving the standards; and

• describe how the Schoolwide Plan will be revised annually, as necessary, based on regular monitoring to ensure continuous improvement of students in the Schoolwide Program (34 CFR § 200.26(c), ESEA § 1114(b)(3)).

Instructions:  Describe how the school evaluates the implementation of, and results achieved by, the Schoolwide Program strategies using data from the State’s annual assessments and other indicators of academic achievement. Include details about how this information is used to revise the Schoolwide Plan annually to ensure program improvement.

The Berkshire Continual Improvement Team team meets biweekly to review the effectiveness of the Schoolwide Program strategies by analyzing data from various sources including, but not limited to: 

• VTCAP and VTSA data  

• local assessment data in the form of the STAR Math and Reading assessments for Kindergarten through 8th grade as well as PNOA for math and MyView and Amplify assessments for literacy  

• office discipline referrals for students who need to access a member of the behavior support team and administrative referrals for behaviors that are state-reportable

• the intervention data for students receiving targeted interventions in math, literacy, or social-emotional learning

• attendance and truancy data (prek-8th)

The leadership team also collaborates on developing the master schedule to facilitate the various goals and strategies mentioned above including dedicated time for:

• Planning interventions and progress monitoring

• Meeting with a PLC group to review student data and plan instruction

• Teachers and interventionists to meet and develop intervention groups

• Reteaching key concepts and pulling out specific groups of students for targeted intervention

• Providing enrichment for students at or above grade level

• Developing EST plans for students needing Level 4A support

Both the Continual Improvement Team and faculty in general regularly review student performance data in content areas and SEL to review if a) students are making progress via universal instruction, b) students are receiving the appropriate / necessary interventions, c) and if those interventions are achieving the desired growth.

Lastly the team reviews and discusses if further changes need to be made during the year and/or for next year based on student performance.

As mentioned in the previous section, if Berkshire Elementary School effectively implements the strategies outlined, the school should expect to see improvements in our student performance across all demographics, and particularly we should expect to see:

• There will be a 50% increase in the number of students testing at or above grade level in mathematics as evidenced by the VTCAP and STAR assessment by the end of the 2024-2025 school year, which will decrease the learning gap for math.

• There will be a 50% increase in the number of students reading at or above grade level as evidenced by the VTCAP and STAR assessment by the end of the 2024-2025 school year, which will decrease the literacy gap.

• The number of office discipline referrals will decrease by 33%, and the number of administrative referrals for state-reportable offenses will decrease by 50% as evidenced through our student referral data by the end of the 2024-2025 school year, which will decrease the equity gap for students who come from underprivileged backgrounds or have experienced substantial trauma.

This Schoolwide Program Plan has been regularly monitored using the above described measures to ensure continuous improvement of students. Using the results of these evaluation processes, the Schoolwide Program Plan was most recently revised on 5/30/2024.

5. Other Requirements

The school and LEA are responsible for ensuring that all additional requirements under ESEA are met:

• The plan shall be available to the local educational agency, parents, and the public, and the information contained in such plan shall be in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, provided in a language that the parents can understand (ESEA § 1114(b)(4)).

• If appropriate and applicable, the plan shall be developed in coordination and integration with other Federal, State, and local services, resources, and programs, such as programs supported under the Every Student Succeeds Act, violence prevention programs, nutrition programs, housing programs, Head Start programs, adult education programs, career and technical education programs, and schools implementing comprehensive support and improvement activities or targeted support and improvement activities under section 1111(d) ( ESEA § 1114(b)(5)).

• The plan remains in effect for the duration of the school’s participation under this part, except that the plan and its implementation shall be regularly monitored and revised as necessary based on student needs to ensure that all students are provided opportunities to meet the challenging State academic standards (ESEA § 1114(b)(3)).

Instructions: Fill in the appropriate information in the prompts below. If additional information is needed to provide clarity, add any other relevant details regarding the above requirements.

This plan will be made available to the school community via the school website and in print form. If a language translation or other accommodation needs to be made, please contact Gavin Roddy.

This plan is developed in coordination with other federal, state and local services, resources and programs such as the Restorative Justice Center, LEAPS, DCF, and NCSS.

This plan is in effect for the 2024-2025 school year. This plan will be monitored throughout the year during biweekly Continual Improvement Team meetings, with specific reviews in the mid fall, mid winter and mid spring.  The plan will be revised in the spring to ensure that the plan is based on student needs and is providing opportunities for all students to meet the challenging state academic standards.