Creating A School-Wide Improvement Plan Of Magnolia Middle School

Schools are desperately working overtime to ensure that teachers are effective in their jobs and that students are successful in reaching their goals. In order to accomplish such hefty goals, schools are consistently engaged in reflection and data analysis. Nonetheless, sometimes schools fall short of their goal, in which case, the state department of education mandate school leaders create, implement, and monitor a School Wide Improvement Plan. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note the differences of a school-wide plan as they vary from state to state. Having the opportunity to examine several rubrics for creating a school improvement plan, I found the disparities between the two amazing. After analyzing the School Improvement Rubric from

improvement rubric and the School Improvement Plan of Magnolia Middle School is was in the area Needs Assessment. Needs Assessments are essential to the development of a school. In a nutshell, Needs Assessment is an instrument that allows districts to determine the need for a school. Based on the Washington D.C. rubric, Magnolia Middle School’s Needs Assessment section of the improvement plan does not meet the minimum qualification. According to the D.C. rubric, there is three standard that a school must successfully satisfy in order to be effective. 1). The Narrative must summarize the results of the assessment. 2). the assessment must identify areas of concerns. 3). the assessment must consist of multiple data samples. Magnolia’s plan does not address any of these standards. In addition, there is three area of weakness as well and surprisingly, the Magnolia plan does not come close to meet the basic requirements of the rubric. On a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the highest Magnolia would receive a score of a 1 in the area of Needs Assessment. If one examined the plan from Mississippi one, would find that it is wordy and difficult to follow. Secondly, the D.C. rubric requires the schools to list their goals and objectives for their Needs Assessment. Again, there are three standards that must be met in this section. 1). Goals and objectives address challenges. 2). Goals are aligned with student’s performance. 3). Goals are S.M.A.R.T.; however, the Magnolia plan does not include goals and objectives in the Needs Assessment section resulting in a score of a 1 for the goal section of the Needs Assessment. Thirdly, the D.C. rubric requires leaders to measure the strength and weakness of their goals; while the Magnolia Plan only requires their leader to measure the strengths and weakness of their program. Based on this information Magnolia receive another score of a 1. Lastly, as compared to the D.C. rubric, Magnolia plan