2009-2010 Self-Study WASC Action Plan - Julian Charter School

ASSESSMENT AREAS OF STRENGTH
• The board and other stakeholders use student achievement to
drive the allocation of resources and program changes.
• Administrators and staff use assessment information to
develop goals for curricular and professional development.
• The school is moving toward common assessments, beginning
with core subject finals at the high school level and benchmarks
in K-8.
• PLCs are in place to help with student progress monitoring;
monitoring is at an individual, group, and program level.
• Numerous strategies are used for student assessment and to
modify instruction.
• Teachers are working in PLCs, departments, and curriculum
teams to discuss how to use assessment findings to better effect
instruction so all students benefit from the group wisdom.
• A wide-variety of student performance data is gathered. This
includes both summative and formative data.
• DataDirector allows staff members to analyze student data.
• JCS has put in place, and allowed the time for, PLCs. Part of
the role of the PLC groups is: 1) disaggregation, analysis and
reporting on student data, 2) curricular development based
on assessment data, and 3) professional development.
ASSESSMENT AREAS OF GROWTH
• Provide continual education, including group time for
collaboration, as teachers are learning to use the recently
adopted systems (e.g., DataDirector) effectively.
• Add further common assessments at all grade levels to
ensure all students are being served and are meeting state
academic standards and school ESLRs.
• Build teacher comfort level/ability to examine student data.
• Find alternative ways to meet to expand the time spent in
groups for analysis: teachers need time to continue to discuss
how to use assessment findings when modifying curriculum
and instruction. Also under discussion is how to delve deeper
into subjects, while still understanding that there is a body of
standards that need to be mastered within a limited time
period. Conversely, for students moving through the standards
quickly, there is much room for enrichment within the
grade level work that can lead to a deeper understanding of
the subject matter.
Chapter 4: Self-Study Findings: Assessment and Accountability
84 Julian Charter School Focus on Learning 2009-2010