Annual Reports
Analysis of Variance 2009
By M. Debney
4 Mar 2010, 10:22

Analysis of Variance 2009

SCHOOL OBJECTIVES

1.     NAG 1 Curriculum Delivery. Provide an excellent balanced curriculum in accordance with the New Zealand Curriculum Framework and the relevant curriculum statements.  While seeking balance, there was a focus on Literacy and Numeracy. Literacy (writing) has been the major school-wide focus for professional development following two years of a focus on reading. The school has a clear process for identifying and assisting students at risk of educational failure. This was reviewed in 2009 and modified in line with ‘best practice’ A team of teachers and teacher aides implemented this Pupil Support programme. For some students this involves withdrawal from classes for extra reading and for others it involves in-class support.

2.     NAG 5 Safe Environment. Engage in creating a safe and secure environment with a student focus. The focus for this is our Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Student surveys show this on-going objective was achieved in 2009. These student surveys, along with our guiding principles, are key components. Only four students were stood down in 2009 and none suspended.

3.  NAG 3 Personnel. Budget for the provision of appropriate professional development. Operate a staff appraisal system to enhance teaching practices. Encouraging staff to seek new opportunities to enhance learning for students.

Profession development was undertaken appropriate to the needs of staff as identified in the appraisal system. This involved many one day courses following teacher interest and identified needs. Staff members were given extra help and support as identified.

The school wide professional development was in Literacy (writing). This will continue in 2010.

4.     NAG 4, Sect. 1 Finance. Set operating budget for the following year in November. Regularly review expenditure for year to ensure budget is maintained. Work with Education Services to ensure appropriate documents are available for audit. Ensure funding is available to meet our other objectives.

Budget operated in appropriate manner according to best practice. Funding was available to meet our objectives although money is always tight since we are a high decile school but have many students for whom English is a second language.

5.  NAG 4, Sect. 2 Property. Follow and implement 10YPP. Implement procedures to ensure environmental hazards are identified and a safe environment is maintained. Operate the Programmed Maintenance scheme.

All aspects of Property objectives were achieved. Our greatest challenge is the age of the buildings and the maintenance required to keep them sound. The adventure playground suffered an arson attack in January. Insurance was not sufficient for full reinstatement but, with modifications, the playground was put back in operation. In 2009 the school installed Astroturf in an area on the top asphalt. This has proved very popular with students.

6.  Community Involvement. Communicate regularly through newsletters and other information forums. Conduct an annual Year 8 survey.

Communication objective achieved with newsletters and the survey of all parents in term four. The whole community was consulted from time to time on a wide range of issues, mainly through the newsletters. It has been decided to report more often to parents on curriculum matters and student achievement through the newsletter. This was implemented later in the year.

Maori and Pacifica communities communicated with via special newsletters outlining achievement levels.

Parents made increased use of email to communicate with the school. The principal was in regular contact with individual parents through home visits where clear home-school communication was required.

In 2009 the school also began a home/school partnership programme which will continue in 2010.

7.  NAG 2 Self-Review. Follow the self review programme for policies, procedures, delegations and terms of reference. Create and follow an annual development plan.

All self reviews completed according to the Charter schedule. This involved a review of NAG 4, section 1, Property.

8.   NAG 6 Administration. Comply with legislative requirements.

All legislative requirement complied with.

9. International Students. All international students at our school had appropriate immigration status. Their living conditions were monitored and all other regulations were complied with. We had very low numbers of these in 2010.

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

1.                 Literacy. To develop, implement, monitor and review programmes and practices that strengthen literacy throughout the school.

          The school-wide professional development area in Literacy was begun in 2006. The first stage was development in Reading which continued into the middle of 2008. Since then the focus has been on Writing. The professional development initiated has  seen strong development in Literacy with very pleasing ‘value added’ to students learning.

At the beginning of 2009 a new deputy principal as appointed with a special strength in Literacy and she has led our school-wide professional development since then.

This professional development will continue throughout 2010.

A home/school link has been established through a programme of early evening meetings.

2.       Mathematics. To embed and sustain the Numeracy programme throughout the school.

          Miss Sangster, as curriculum leader attended update courses in Numeracy and informed staff through staff meetings. Further Numeracy teaching resources were purchased during the year.

3.       eTAP. To further explore ways to strengthen the use of assessment information to inform teaching and learning, and ways that achievement data can be reported to the board and parents using eTAP software.

National Standards being introduced in 2010 has added impetus to development of new ways of reporting on student progress. This development will continue into 2010 as the school meets new requirements.

4.       Special Needs. To review the special needs policy and procedures to ensure that all students identified on the special needs register are accurately tracked and invention programmes used, are clearly identified.

Note: Procedure 1.1.3 states ‘Special refers to high and low ability students.’

A review was undertaken with new ways of accurately tracking all students identified as special needs and interventions actioned.

A review of identifying Gifted and talented students was also undertaken and new procedures will be put in place during 2010.

5.       Curriculum Initiative EHSAS. To implement the EHSAS ‘SWELL’ project during 2009 and 2010.

Funding for this was stopped by the MOE in 2009. Work on research projects continued in 2009 for completion in 2010.

Data has been shared with cluster schools to a much greater degree in 2009 and it is hoped this will continue even though the EHSAS funding has ceased.

6.       Engagement with community. To enable school community sectors to become actively involved in our school and students learning.

In 2009 we began a home/school partnership programme we called ‘Working together— Kia Kotahi Tatou.’ It features early evening meetings. Initially we are using this to support literacy strategies and will expand this in 2010 to include Mathematics and parent suggestions.

7.       Property. To implement a school-wide Sunsmart programme.

A Sunsmart Health programme was taken throughout the school. The plan for increasing shade areas around the school remains a priority for the Board. Property developments has been considered and a shade plan developed.

Funding was sought in 2009 but declined.

          We will continue to seek funding.

5.       Technological Development. To complete the installation on interactive whiteboards in all teaching spaces.

          At the end of 2009 we installed three data projectors in classrooms and one in the Science room.

6.       Physical Environment. To further enhance the attractiveness and appeal of the school environment.

          Because of cost we decided against developing a new Performing Arts at the back of the hall.

          Signage was reviewed.

          A new Astroturf area was developed on the top asphalt area. This has proved very successful.

GOVERNANCE STRATEGY SELF REVIEW

The triennial self review of policies and procedures was followed.

SCHOOL LEARNING GOALS

Note: All students, including our students new to New Zealand, were included in these results. This would cause a natural skew downward. In spite of the multi-cultural nature of our students, our literacy and Mathematics academic goals were still achieved.

Goal 1: LITERACY.    

To develop, implement, monitor and review programmes and practices that strengthen literacy throughout the school.

Annual Targets:       

(i)       by the end of 2009 over 80% of students will be  

reading at or above their age level.

(ii)               For students new to New Zealand, at least 18 months progress in

          reading age will be made in 2009.

Action taken to achieve goals

§   Teachers have continued professional development in literacy throughout 2009.  A focus on teaching reading was maintained, while also paying greater attention to the teaching of writing. 

§   Reading P.D. has increased teacher knowledge of how children learn to read and how to use deliberate instruction practises, such as teaching “comprehension strategies”.  Teachers have also increased their understandings on the particular needs, of those students who are new English Language Learners.

§   All teachers had the opportunity to observe a model Guided Silent Reading (GSR) lesson, however, all felt that this was not necessary due to previous P.D. in this area.

§   Teachers were all observed taking a GSR lesson and feedback was provided to support teachers to improve their practise.  Accent Advisors carried out some of these observations and commented that they could see teachers had made progress in this area. 

§   Group sets of reading texts have been purchased – selections have been made to support topics covered in science and social studies.

§   Teachers were involved in small group discussions, focussing on interpreting assessment data from multiple sources and identifying the needs of selected ‘at risk’ students. 

§   Most teachers have signed up to use e-asTTle, which will enable them to more accurately assess the specific reading needs of high achieving students.  During December all Year 7 students who scored in the top 3 stanines of the STAR B, sat an e-asTTle reading test.  This data will be provided to teachers in 2010.

§   Our first ‘Working Together’ evening was held, with a pleasing number of families attending.  While all members of the SWIS community were welcome, teachers personally invited families of Year 7 students considered ‘at risk’.  Parents were given a brief presentation on how to support their children to understand what they read, and then participated in discussion on how they could do this themselves at home.

Achievement of Goals

As previously reported… The Supplementary Tests of Achievement in Reading (STAR) are a key tool for determining the progress in reading achievement of our students.  This standardised test has two forms (A and B) and has been designed to be used twice a year in schools.  It is a common practice to use test A at the beginning of the year and test B close to the middle of the year.  This allows teachers to assess the effectiveness of their reading programmes in the middle of the year and make changes to their teaching approaches if students do not make adequate progress.  (July ’09)

The July STAR data indicated that 80% of students were achieving at or above stanine 5. 

§   It must be noted that even a stanine of 4, is considered to be within the ‘average range’ and that students scoring in this band are still considered to be reading at an appropriate level for their age.  When students who achieved a stanine of 4 are included in the calculations for the number of students “reading at or above their age level” the target is exceeded, possibly by as much as 10%.

§   NB: Students scoring a stanine of 4 in reading tests are considered to be ‘at risk’ of falling behind, and often do, when instructional reading programmes are no longer provided for them, as is likely when they enter high school.  For this reason a conservative use of assessment data is preferred by educators focussed on high achievement levels for all students.

As the target of “80% of students achieving at or above their age level”, had been met in July, it was considered unnecessary for all students to sit a 3^rd STAR in November.  Teachers continued to deliver high quality reading programmes and conduct less formal assessments, therefore we can reasonably expect that students throughout the school continued to make progress and develop their reading skills in the second half of the year.

An analyses of the achievement of different groups of students was reported to the Board of Trustees in July 2009.  This indicates that while some Maori and Pasifika students made progress in reading (as measured by STAR), some did not.

Considerations for 2010

All students are expected to make progress.  Students currently achieving below expectations for their Year group, need to make accelerated progress in order to develop the literacy skills they require to fully participate in learning activities across the school curriculum, both now and in the future. Students who initially perform poorly on reading and writing assessment tasks, may, with the help of skilled teachers, make significant and accelerated progress, and yet still not achieve the standard set in previous school targets (e.g. stanine 5 or above in reading).  A standards based target may fail to recognise good teaching and significant student learning.  Furthermore, a standards based target does not provide teachers with the incentive to ensure that very capable students also progress their learning.

To achieve significantly different school wide results in literacy, we may need to change the way we support our most at risk students.  Making changes to our teacher aide organisation is one way that we could increase the support provided to these students.

We need to find better methods and strategies to ensure the success of our Maori and Pasifika students who are not yet achieving within the normal range for their Year group.

Recommendations:

1. Expect that more than 85% of students will achieve a stanine 5 or above on the STAR before the end of the year. (This is achievable given that in February 2010, 61% of students were already achieving at or above stanine 5.) 
1. Expect that students Maori and Pasifika students will progress at a similar rate to their Pakeha peers, at all achievement levels.
2. Expect that those Maori and Pasifika students, who have no identified learning needs, yet initially score below a stanine of 5 on the STAR, would advance by at least 8 raw score points on a subsequent STAR test in 2010.
3. Expect that immigrant English Language Learners, who have resided in English speaking countries for longer that 5 years, would demonstrate at least a similar rate of progress in reading, to New Zealand born peers.
2. Expect that all normally progressing students (working within 2 years of their chronological age) advance by at least 2 sub levels during the year, in writing tasks assessed using the e-asTTle indicators.

Kathryn Smith

English curriculum leader

Goal 2: MATHEMATICS.

Target Statement

By the end of 2009, 80% of all students will have improved by at least one stanine on the PAT Maths test. This would represent a very significant improvement related to age, although a repeat of the test in November cannot be nationally referenced.

Evaluation

In early March, 254 students sat the PAT Maths test. In December, when we retested, 234 students sat the test. The data comparisons for the tests are as follows:

March 2008 results:

November 2008 results:

March 2009 results:

November 2009 results:

The biggest improvement overall has been in the Year 7s’ results, with an improvement in the average stanine of 1.47. The Year 8s who sat Test 5 moved slightly at the end of the year, while those who sat Test 6A moved by nearly 1 stanine.

When compared with the data from 2008, the results are similar.

Further analysis of the marks and data of the November testing reveals that the following numbers of students:

The student who moved up 4 stanines had scored at stanine 2 in March, She is an overseas student, who, although not withdrawn for extra ESOL help, had difficulties at the start of the year reading written English.

Of those whose stanine stayed the same, their raw scores can be shown as:

This is because within each stanine there is a range of scores, and where in March the student may have scored at the bottom end of that stanine, they have improved, but not enough to move to the next stanine.

Percentages of the results are as follows (working on the number of students who sat both tests):

Although we didn’t achieve the (on hindsight) somewhat optimistic target of 80% of the students improving their stanine, the results were pleasing, particularly in the Year 7s and top Year 8 groups.

Christine Sangster

Numeracy Literacy Leader