• Category 2

    Selected in 2018

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 20
    Student Enrollment: 265
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 2%
    White/Caucasian: 87%
    Hispanic: 2%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 7%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:18
    % Reduced Lunch: 65.6%
    % ELL Learners: 1%
    Founded: 1978
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Jacqueline Enright
  • CONTACT:
    10601 Cash Valley Rd
    LaVale, MD 21502
    301-724-6632
    jacqueline.enright@acpsmd.org
Cash Valley Elementary School
LaVale, MD
Our school strives to incorporate meaningful family activities.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
Our school strives to incorporate meaningful family activities. Each year, our Back to School Night for families includes fun activities along with introductions to staff, school policies, and instructional topics. Our family invovlement coordinator hosts weekly workshops for family members to assist with creating classroom materials. The informal nature of the workshop allows time for family members to connect with each other and become comfortable in the school environment. Additionally, we offer content specific learning days for families in which parents are invited to come in for a brief overview of a school-wide targeted instructional strategy / curricular concept, followed by a visit to the child's classroom to observe and participate in a lesson related to the strategy/concept. Parents are always invited to participate on school teams - PBIS, Family/Community Involvement, Leadership. We encourage families to be active participants during IEP meetings and conference days.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
School Improvement is a continual process and most successful when common values and ideals have been established with all members of the school community. Positive school change happens in a positive environment filled with hard workers willing to have difficult conversations, be refelctive thinkers, and maintain a growth mindset. Building collaborative structures into the work day plays a key role in advancing initiatives and sustaining forward momentum.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
Incorporation of small group station teaching has strengthened teachers' abilites to meet students' needs. Our work with MCIE (Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education) and SWIFT (School-wide Integrated Framework for Transformation) helped us to focus on equity based inclusive practices, strengthen UDL implementation, and increase colalborative planning among general and special educators. We began a cycle of examining our culture and practices around the key domains and features (administrative leadership, MTSS, family and community partnerships, inclusive educational framework, school/district policies), problem solving around deficits, creating action plans for improvement, monitoring progress, and setting new goals. A focus on using core vocabulary and a systematic process to support use of devices for students with limited verbal ability is having a positive impact on student growth. Positive results are seen from our work with explicit teaching of metacognitive strategies.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
ESEA funds are used to support our school's goal to continually enhance student achievement. Budgets are created based on identified areas of need related to action plans connected to the School Improvement Plan.
-funding for additional staffing to meet the needs of diverse learners.
-funding for purchase of Tier I and Tier II reading, math, and behavior materials.
-funding for web based programs to support reading and math instruction.
-funding to pay stipends for teachers to participate in identified professional learning activities.
-funding to pay stipends for teachers to collaboratively examine data and create individualized action plans.
-funding to support family engagement activities
-funding for our Family Involvement Coordinator
-funding for teachers and support staff
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
We implement a variety of professional learning opportunities to enhance teachers' skills and support student success.
-Monthly Leadership Team meetings led by the principal
-Weekly grade level team meetings facilitated by administrators and /or content specialists
-Monthly PLC Meetings facilitated by teacher members of the teams. Structured activities, such as tuning protocols, book study, and lesson study are used.
-Instructional Rounds led by teachers (focus on a specific strategy being implemented school-wide)
-Weekly collaborative planning sessions among general educators and special educators
-Quarterly training sessions for paraprofessionals
-FAME (Formative Assessment for Maryland Educators) -online modules, monthly community of practice meetings led by a teacher leader
-FALT (Formative Assessment for Leadership Teams) - Monthly meetings for book study/implementation review / current and former FAME participants observe master teacher practioners and co-plan
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
Data analysis, followed by action planning, is conducted on a continual basis throughout the year.
-To create the annual school improvement plan, a formal data dive is completed after release of state assessment results, followed by a problem solving process to identify the root causes of problematic areas and create action plans to implement startegies for improvement.
-MTSS Practice Profiles are used to monitor implementaiton of a tiered system of support for reading, math, and behavior
-Readiang Intervetnion Cycle Meetings are conducted quarterly to monitor DIBELS data / individual student progress
-Tier II behavior team meets twice monthly to monitor implementation of behavior interventions and supports and create action plans for students.
-The Leadership Team meets monthly to review progress on identified school-wide strategies, review data, and make changes as needed.
-Teachers use web based program reports and assessment results to individualize student work/support.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Cash Valley Elementary's culture is one of acceptance and high expectations for all. We are proud of the work we continue to do to provide inclusive opportunities for all students, including those with intensive needs. As a regional setting for students with the most signficant needs, we embraced the opportunity provided by our district to explore structures and processes to improve specially designed instruction, UDL practices, and inclusive practices. We have substantially decreased the number of students in self-contained classrooms and increased the percentage of students with special needs who are included in the general education setting. Improving these practices has had a positive impact reaching across all facets of the school community. Additionally, we have explored the factors of implementation science to help ensure that evidence based practices and programs are utilized, there are action-oriented goals, a method for implementation, and plans for sustainability.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2018

  • Grades: pre k - 5
    School Setting: rural
    Town Population: 20
    Student Enrollment: 265
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 2%
    White/Caucasian: 87%
    Hispanic: 2%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 1%
    Other: 7%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:18
    % Reduced Lunch: 65.6%
    % ELL Learners: 1%
    Founded: 1978
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Jacqueline Enright
  • CONTACT:
    10601 Cash Valley Rd
    LaVale, MD 21502
    301-724-6632
    jacqueline.enright@acpsmd.org