It was Bartley Elementary School's turn to share its building goals for the year during Wednesday night's Fulton School Board meeting.
Principal Connie Epperson shared five SMART goals and the strategies Bartley staff have been using to help achieve them:
Building Goal 1: "By April of 2015, the percentage of students scoring proficient on W5 - Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting or trying a new approach - will increase from 53 percent to 80 percent as measured by MAP/Smarter Balance testing."
"We've identified that our students have a difficult time picking out a good topical sentence," Epperson said, noting the school is working on developing and strengthening students' writing skills this year - having students write, edit and revise to help strengthen those lessons.
The strategies for this goal include utilizing Lucy Calkins Units of Study in writing instruction - an instructional series designed to help students meet and exceed Common Core Standards - and utilizing the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Timely) goal process.
Building Goal 2: "By April of 2015, the percentage of standings scoring proficient on R1E - Develop vocabulary through text using synonyms and antonyms - will increase from 47 percent 80 percent as measured by MAP/Smarter Balance testing."
The strategies for this goal are to conduct direct instruction in vocabulary and Marazano's six-step process to teach academic vocabulary.
Building Goal 3: "The percentage of students K-5 will increase their STAR math percentile rank from beginning of year benchmark 60.5 to 72 as measured by the end of the year benchmark testing in May 2015."
The strategy for this goal is to use Accelerated Math.
Building Goal 4: "The Self-Assessment Survey for PBS (Positive Behavior Support) Systems shows that we have a high percentage (77 percent) of staff that feel that we have a high to moderate need for families to receive training on behavioral support/positive parenting strategies and we will decrease from 77 percent to 50 percent by the end of the 2014-15 school year."
Strategies for this goal are to implement the First Steps to Success program and to seek opportunities for parent training related to supports and strategies for working with challenging children.
Building Goal 5: "The percentage of fifth-grade students scoring proficient or advanced on the science MAP test will increase from 38.5 percent to 55 percent by the end of the 2014-15 school year as measured by the MAP test."
Epperson noted that the science test is a cumulative test and "will require all grade levels to do their part in helping accomplish this goal."
Epperson attributed the school's drop in science scores in part to having implemented a new science program last year, and also to the intense focus on English/language arts and math.
"Our goal is to try to promote science in more ways," she said.
Strategies to achieve this goal include working on vocabulary and science literacy, creating authentic science experiences - through activities like Thursday night's Science Night - and more integration of technology.
Epperson said staff will draw heavily on the research-based teaching and learning strategies they successfully implemented last year to help boost English/language arts scores.
"We've come up with more research-based strategies for this year and are working on implementing them," she said.