GIPS Annual Report 2019: The Experience Grows

Grand Island Public Schools is now in the third year of a five-year strategic plan. We are proud to showcase success within each of the four main pillars of the plan, as well as report progress on the main objectives outlined within those pillars.

Overall, we have seen the implementation of many programs directly aligned with the strategic plan we know will help us reach our vision: Students prepared to make positive contributions to society and thrive in an ever-changing world.

Highlights

Bond issue completion

We’ll talk more about facilities below, but a major highlight of the past year is the completion of the seven building projects of the 2014 bond issue. The last two schools - Jefferson and Stolley Park elementary schools - opened new buildings this fall where their old buildings were. In all, the seven projects in the $69.9 million referendum impacted 416,512 square feet - which is almost 25% of the district’s entire foot print. The promise we made to the community was we would complete the projects in five years, and we came through.

Strategic plan progress

Student success measures

Along with the four pillars and eight objectives, the strategic plan outlines 11 student success measures. These have been broken up into three categories. Below is an update on the data from each of the success measures.

Equity, Attendance & Accountability

1. Increased percentage of incoming kindergartners having participated in a high-quality early childhood education experience.

GIPS is collecting data on the number of incoming kindergarten students who have received a preschool education. Data demonstrates that out of 800 kindergarten students, 527 received an early childhood care and/or preschool experience, including from GIPS or community early childhood care and education providers.

2. Increased percentage of students meeting or exceeding proficiency every year across all assessed grades and subjects assessed on the Nebraska State Accountability centralized state testing process.

As we look at NSCAS results over the last two years, there have been some gains primarily in English Language Arts and secondly in math. We focus on two areas when looking at the NSCAS results: Improvement and Growth.

Improvement is the year-to-year comparison of how teachers did with the same level of students. In other words, a previous year's third graders is compared with the next year's third graders. This is used to help refine curriculum implementation and know areas students are the strongest and at which grade levels. By looking at improvement in ELA, students in grades 3, 4, 6 and 7 showed improvements of between 1 and 8 percent from previous year grade-level performance in terms of the percent of students meeting or exceeding proficiency levels. For example, ELA proficiency in the grade 7 NSCAS test grew 8 percent from students the year before. Also, math students in grades 3, 4 and 11 showed gains of between 2 and 6 percent.

Growth is the cohort comparison of the same group of students across years. Think of this as following a graduating class as they progress through grade levels together. The only cohorts that can be viewed as growing across years are third-fourth, fourth-fifth, fifth-sixth, sixth-seventh and seventh-eighth grades on the ELA and math exams. As such, students in ELA showed year-to-year growth in four of the five comparisons (all but fifth to sixth). The largest ELA cohort growth was from sixth to seventh grade, and showed a 4.7 percent increase. The math cohorts saw two cohorts improve (third to fourth grade and fourth to fifth grade students, both with increases of 3 percent). Science does not have a year-to-year cohort comparison.

3. Decreased achievement gaps among all student sub-groups on state accountability tests.

Three-year NSCAS trend data reveals mixed results in the areas of ELA, math and science. As a district, we are responding by analyzing multiple sources of data to the student level and ensuring all students have access to rigorous and relevant grade-level curriculum. GIPS has focused on professional learning to support educators in delivering a rigorous and robust curriculum. Within professional learning communities, teachers engage in standards-based planning, developing common assessments and using data to drive personalized intervention and extensions to address opportunity and academic gaps.

4. Decreased percentage of students who are absent 15 or more days as reported by Nebraska Department of Education.

Data collected demonstrates attendance is improving for grade cohort groups. For example, last year’s fourth graders improved attendance as fifth graders.

5. Decreased number of students who are suspended or expelled and a reduction in disproportionate (by race/ethnicity, poverty, and identified disability) suspensions and expulsions.

Data demonstrates a higher percentage of students with disabilities are suspended or expelled and the one consistent variable across students is poverty. We continue to address this as a district.

Social Emotional Learning

6. Increased percentage of students with a high level of school connectedness and high commitment to learning.

Pilot data collected from two elementary schools, one middle school and the GISH Academy of Freshman Exploration demonstrates an increase in social emotional competencies except in the area of rigorous expectations. Areas demonstrating an increase are school climate, school safety, self-management and social awareness.

Several areas of the strategic plan speak to this student success measure, including providing students with relevant exposure to career options, such as career fairs and job shadowing, both within and outside the walls of GIPS, and encouraging participation in expanded learning opportunities.

Data for this student success measure comes from the Nebraska Department of Education and Panorama, a pilot program for GIPS. Our counselors also use a program called Second Step. In general, the NDE data shows a slight decline in student connectedness and a high commitment to learning.

7. Increased percentage of students self-reporting growth mindset, self-efficacy, self-management, and social awareness.

The strategic plan states students will have access to an adult or peer mentor. Success Mentors is a new program implemented by 11 buildings pairing an identified student with an adult mentor. There are many benefits to the program, the most important being increased student attendance. Success Mentors has already shown positive trends.

The Nebraska Department of Education survey shows a slight decline in growth mindset, self efficacy, self-management and social awareness. GIPS takes this very seriously. We are exploring several things, including whether the questions we ask on the survey actually measure these four areas. The district is also working with a culture and climate team to determine a district standard for social emotional learning and the professional development needed to implement the standard.

College & Career Readiness

8. Increased percentage of students on track to graduate at 3rd, 8th, and 9th grades.

This year, these grades have seen new implementation of ORIGO math curriculum for elementary students, continued implementation of Amplify Science curriculum at the middle school level and the groundbreaking work of GEAR UP to prepare students in seventh and eighth grades for high school. Also, the Academies of Grand Island Senior High have expanded this year with all students now in the academies model. GISH has streamlined its work with students into more focused class offerings and supports for students.

Third grade students are being tracked in terms of the percentage on track (attendance based), the percentage not chronically absent (severe levels of absence) and the percentage proficient in reading. For these students, the percentage on track grew slightly from 38% to 46% over the past three years. The percentage of chronic absence did grow slightly, in the same period, from 5% to 8.5%, while the NSCAS reading proficiency levels grew from 40% to 49%, a growth of almost 10%.

Eighth grade students showed immediate gains since the 2017-18 school year, and are currently at 72.5% on track. An area of focus for the district is 18.2% of these students have 1 or more failing grades, which has increased over the previous five years. Lastly, the percentage who are chronically absent decreased to 15% at the end of the 2018-19 school year compared to 19% from the previous school year.

Ninth grade students have shown decreases in being on track over the last five years and are the focus of increased work and supports in the Academy of Freshman Exploration and through GEAR UP. 16% of students are credit deficient as 9th graders. This is taken care of during remediation during the year (during Islander time) as well as summer course offerings. Lastly, the percent of students with failing grades climbed across the previous five years from 20% to 32%, and as such the academies model is streamlined to offer more in-class and out-of-class support for students who struggle.

9. Increased percentage of students graduating from high school in four years.

Our GIPS expectation is for all students to graduate and be prepared to thrive in an ever-changing world. Our data shows a declining trend in graduation rate from 2017 (84.86%) to 2019 (82.37%). To address this concern, we have launched the Academies of Grand Island Senior High where all students have a personalized learning plan, membership in a small learning community, development of social-emotional skills and competencies, and choice of pathways with rigorous, relevant and engaging experiences that go beyond the classroom. At the district level, we continue to improve the alignment and coherence of our PK-12 curriculum to ensure students are prepared to succeed in college and achieve high wage careers.

10. Increased percentage of students graduating with one or more of the following:

• A. Industry certification.
• B. College credit for at least one course.
• C. A score of three or higher on at least one Advanced Placement exam.
• D. A score meeting ACT college readiness benchmarks for each tested subject.
• E. Completion of one or more career pathways.

For the Class of 2019:

• 30% of our students graduated with at least one industry certification.
• 45% of the graduates earned at least 1 college credit,
• 19% earned a score of 3 or higher on an Advanced Placement Exam.
• Percentage of students meeting the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks: 21% ELA, 20% Math and 15% in Science.
• 35% completed one or more pathways.

The indicators identified do not meet our expectations. The launching of the Academies of Grand Island Senior High will address the expectations of our graduate profile and include: free and intentional ACT prep for all high school students; rigorous, relevant curriculum design and delivery with input from Academy Partners on pathway courses with embedded certifications that align to industry standards; opportunities for all students to experience job shadowing, internships and apprenticeships; and expanded access for all students to choose a college prep course sequence. The academy model seeks to build on individual student strengths and interests, engage in career education beyond the school walls and foster a personalized and collaborative environment with high expectations for all.

11. Increased percentage of students enrolled in postsecondary education, enlisted in the military or employed six months after graduation.

GIPS conducts an exit interview with high school seniors asking them their plans in terms of work and postsecondary education. The district then conducts a survey with the same students six months after graduation. Based on student reported data, 86.5% attend college, 6.8% enlist in the military and 12.2% work and do not attend postsecondary education.

Finances and Facilities

Every Student Succeeds Act

GIPS continues to adapt to the financial reporting requirements under the Federal Every Student Succeeds Act. We are working with a third part called Forecast Five Analytics to help us analyze our data and help tell the story behind the numbers.

Facilities Master Planning

GIPS is embarking upon a Facilities Master Planning process in order to separate wants from needs for all aspects of our facilities. We are currently working with CMBA Architects and in-house staff to develop floor and site plans along with associated data describing our current facilities on a standardized basis. Additionally, we are hosting a community town hall meeting in April seeking public input concerning facilities. A structured community-based Facilities Master Planning Committee will be created with direct authority and responsibility to sort through all the ideas and make a written report available to the Board of Education for their consideration.

Staffing

Grow Your Own Teacher Preparation Programs

Grow Your Own teacher programs help address teacher shortages, retention issues and teacher diversity by engaging in a variety of strategies that aim to recruit teachers from local communities in hopes the pool of candidates will be increasingly more diverse and staff will be more likely to stay teaching in the community.

GIPS is collaborating with several colleges and universities to develop innovative and flexible programs where GIPS employees can work towards teacher certification while maintaining employment with the district.

Staffing Study

GIPS is partnering with District Management Group to refine and implement the district's strategic plan priorities and theory of action for raising student achievement and addressing social emotional learning.

DMG has a well established process in place and they have access to data from other high performing school districts that will add value and credibility to the final report. DMG will provide a fresh and unbiased analysis of current staffing patterns as well as bringing forward suggestions and new ideas.