Our Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP)

Our Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) helps us set goals to improve learning, student well-being, and school success. It focuses on identifying what students need, setting priorities, and taking actions to make things better for everyone in our schools.

This plan follows the Vermont Agency of Education’s guidelines to make sure schools use data and evidence to guide decisions. Our main goal is to create positive changes that help all students succeed, feel supported, and stay engaged in learning.

The sections below explain our key areas of focus, including goals, strategies, and how we will measure success for the 2024-2025 school year.

Focus Areas

Safe and Healthy Schools

Theory of Action

IF students are expected to write a Learning Letter every Friday to their families about their learning, THEN families will better understand how GES is preparing their student.

IF students spend time acknowledging kind acts at school and if the adults celebrate those acts, THEN there will be more kindness amongst students and lead students to feel more respected by their peers at school.

Problems of Practice

54% of families responded negatively in regard to their student being academically well-prepared for the following year as measured by the Panorama survey.

19% of students responded favorably to the question about students respecting one another at school as measured by the Panorama survey.

Goals

Students will share their learning with the families, and families will sign and return the learning letter as a way of demonstrating their acknowledgment.

Students will share their kindness, and overall student respect for one another will improve.

Strategies & Change Ideas

Develop a consistent Learning Letter template that includes weekly learning, strategies, and differentiation by grade level.

Develop a system for acknowledging kind acts and holding a ceremony on a monthly basis highlighting kindness.

Measures

Panorama Survey, Mid-Year Survey for families, SWISS data

Human, Materials, etc.

Learning Letter, Survey, ALL students, all staff, parents and families, Survey, punch cards to track kindness acts.

Academic Achievement

Theory of Action

IF all students persevere through writing, which will be taught and assessed by all teachers through explicit tracking and progress monitoring, THEN students' writing ability will improve as measured both by the length of writing and the quality of their writing.

Problems of Practice

Students' ability to write for sustained periods of time is limited. When writing, students are not showing evidence of strong writing skills.

Goals

By June 2025, 100% of students will show growth as evidenced in their daily journal writing and trimester assessments in their Writing and their ability to sustain the task.

Strategies & Change Ideas

Implement grammar and usage instruction, prewriting, writing, revising instruction, goal setting, and feedback to students.

Measures

Grammar and usage instruction, prewriting, writing, revising instruction, goal setting, and feedback to students.

Human, Materials, etc.

ILT teams, K-6 teachers, interventionists, specialists, counselors, nurse, ALL staff, coaches.

Equity Goal

Theory of Action

IF we continue to implement a K-6 curriculum with IM, attend professional development sessions, and provide consistent coaching for all mathematics teachers, THEN student achievement and individual growth will increase. Additionally, IF we systematically record, track, and analyze our math data via end-of-unit assessments and USNS as well as differentiated instruction and interventions based on this data, THEN student achievement and student growth will improve.

Problem of Practice

Gaps across grade levels in ELA and Math proficiency persist between our marginalized students and their peers. Based on VT-CAP results from Spring 2023, 26% of the students who were identified as economically disadvantaged demonstrated proficiency in ELA and 13% demonstrated proficiency in math. In contrast, 34% of students not identified as economically disadvantaged demonstrated proficiency in ELA and 32% demonstrated proficiency in math.

Goal

By June 2025, 54% of students in grades 3-11 will demonstrate proficiency (above the 40th percentile) in math based on MAP achievement scores, and 60% will meet or exceed the average growth from Spring 2024-2025.

Strategy & Change Ideas

Attend professional development focusing on the IM program, provide consistent coaching in math, record, track, and analyze math data via end-of-unit assessments, and differentiate instruction and intervention based on data.