• Category 2

    Selected in 2018

  • Grades: k - 4
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 30,000
    Student Enrollment: 457
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1%
    White/Caucasian: 94%
    Hispanic: 1%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 3%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:23
    % Reduced Lunch: 47.7%
    % ELL Learners: 0.2%
    Founded: 2003
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Heather Newell
  • CONTACT:
    1219 Morris Avenue
    North Huntington, PA 15462
    724-861-3025
    hnewell@norwinsd.org
Sheridan Terrace Elementary School
North Huntington, PA
Our belief is that combined effectiveness exponentially strengthens as we all grow as leaders and learners.
Describe specific programs in place to ensure that families are involved in the success of your school and students.
In the following ways, the Sheridan Terrace Schoolwide Title I committee leads the school’s efforts to establish, nourish, and maintain strong connections with parents and families.
• The committee studies feedback provided by parents and families, including responses from the annual Title I survey, in order to develop informational sessions for parents so they can best support their children’s learning.
• Annually, Sheridan Terrace parents prepare and provide professional development to teachers based on topics they feel need better understood and implemented at school.
• The Schoolwide Title I committee plans monthly “Terrace Talks” scheduled at monthly PTA meetings. The goal of these presentations is to inform and educate parents in ways to help their children succeed at school.
• Three parent information sessions are planned each year using responses on the annual Title I survey to guide topics, format, and materials.
Describe the most successful activity your school has initiated to strengthen ties to your community.
Every year, Sheridan Terrace students choose to swap out the traditional holiday gift exchange activity for a friendly competition that raises money for the neighborhood Food Bank. A monetary donation of any amount, not to exceed $5.00, to the Irwin Food Bank provides students access to all 30 "Fun Fair" activities. This year, the students raised just over $1800.

Also, a program called “Sheridan Helping Sheridan” receives donations from staff members, the PTA, and community organizations/businesses. Upon request by any family, this service pays for family-friendly events that the PTA sponsors throughout the year. For example, “Sheridan Helping Sheridan” pays for family admission to the annual hayride, winter carnival, art nights, and Special Person’s Luncheon held each spring.
Describe your philosophy of school change or improvement.
As the principal of Sheridan Terrace Elementary School, I am always asking myself and the teachers with whom I work how we can do things better. In order to improve our practices, we need to continually learn, so I strive to bring new insights and deeper learning to every meeting I lead. I share my own learning and "ah ha" moments openly. I seek collaboration and compromise. My core leadership philosophy is rooted in the belief that our combined effectiveness exponentially strengthens as we all grow as leaders and learners.
What are your school’s top two goals for the next year?
1. Strengthen students' ability to determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases in literature and informational texts.
2. Teachers have expressed a desire to learn more about best practices in writing instruction. The current ELA resources need to be better and more thoroughly utilized for writing instruction. Close reading strategies need to be universally understood, modeled, and taught by all ELA teachers. Students need to develop stronger skills in responding to text-dependent analysis tasks.
What is the single most important factor in the success of your school that others could replicate?
In the second response above (school culture), I mentioned how important areas of focus have resulted from teachers' "grass roots" interests. While our whole elementary system, involving five schools and under the direction of our Assistant Superintendent, is well organized (a sure strength!), we have capitalized on opportunities to learn more about what teachers know is important and critical to their work. A few years ago, teachers brought forward the Daily Five construct and demonstrated how this management system could be used to strengthen the balanced literacy framework that was already established. Next, trauma-informed instruction was introduced to many of us through the efforts of a few dedicated teachers. Now we are studying "Zones of Regulation" as a way to explicitly teach students how to self-monitor and regulate. I am already hearing much buzz around growth mindset and know that that topic could be an area of desired focus in the years ahead.
Describe the program or initiative that has had the greatest positive effect on student achievement, including closing achievement or opportunity gaps, if applicable.
All teachers emphasize close reading strategies when they engage students in various, appropriately leveled texts. Starting in Kindergarten, students learn to annotate a variety of texts, including stories, poems, illustrations, and artwork, with symbols and manipulatives to note areas of question, importance, and personal connection. In later grades, students can more easily write their reactions and connections on the text. We know from our professional learning community meetings and professional development sessions that strong close reading skills and the ability to draw meaning from a variety of texts are critical to college and career readiness.
Explain how ESEA federal funds are used to support your improvement efforts.
ESEA funds are used to pay for a reading specialist and a certified paraprofessional who works under her direction. These staff members utilize Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) as a Tier 3 intervention for reading. In addition to this Tier 3 support, the reading specialist and certified paraprofessional provide Tier 2 push-in instruction for struggling readers. ESEA federal funds have been used to purchase additional resources that enhance the leveled texts available to students.
Identify the critical professional development activities you use to improve teaching and student learning.
I use professional learning communities to improve teaching and student learning. The teachers at my school and I are already very comfortable learning together. We debate, suggest, recommend, and share with one another easily and routinely. Our next level of growth regards the critical analysis of student work. One of my professional goals this year is to lead PLCs to analyze student work in order to draw conclusions about effective practices and to set goals for future learning.
Describe how data is used to improve student achievement and inform decision making.
Sheridan Terrace fully utilizes the RtII/MTSS framework to guide instruction, assessment, and intervention for reading, mathematics, and behavior. Through Tier 1 of RtII, each child receives core instruction and is assessed regularly using benchmark and classroom assessments. Those students not making adequate progress move to Tier 2, during which time they receive additional interventions and regular progress monitoring. Tier 3 interventions and instruction are available for those students needing the most intensive support. Students who demonstrate mastery of curriculum and instruction will be identified for enrichment opportunities.
Describe your school culture and explain changes you’ve taken to improve it.
Sheridan Terrace is a school that has a reputation for being collaborative, energetic, and positive. In order to truly live this reputation, staff members and the PTA routinely think of ways to support a positive learning and teaching environment by focusing on the needs of students. New this year, a group of teachers called the “Positive Learning Environment” (PLE) committee meets monthly in order to plan ways to improve and enhance our school climate. Resources are shared among teachers to support the explicit teaching of positive character traits, social stories, and prosocial behavior. In recent years, a "grass roots" movement among Sheridan Terrace staff members has brought a new awareness of trauma-informed instruction and a renewed focus on guiding students to develop self-awareness and control of their feelings and emotions.
Stats
  • Category 2

    Selected in 2018

  • Grades: k - 4
    School Setting: suburban
    Town Population: 30,000
    Student Enrollment: 457
    Student Demographics:

    Black/African American: 1%
    White/Caucasian: 94%
    Hispanic: 1%
    Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0%
    Asian: 1%
    Native American: 0%
    Other: 3%

    Teacher/Student Ratio: 1:23
    % Reduced Lunch: 47.7%
    % ELL Learners: 0.2%
    Founded: 2003
  • PRINCIPAL:
    Heather Newell
  • CONTACT:
    1219 Morris Avenue
    North Huntington, PA 15462
    724-861-3025
    hnewell@norwinsd.org