Introduction

District Heights Elementary School is in year one of school improvement and will exit in SY 2006-2007.  It is a Traditional Comprehensive Title 1 school which employs Comer School Development program.  It is located in the Central Region of Prince George’s County in close proximity to Washington, D.C. and approximately 20 miles from the city of Annapolis, Maryland’s capitol.  District Heights Elementary is committed to excellence that has been developed by high expectations for teachers and students.  District Heights Elementary is dedicated to meeting the academic, social and emotional needs of its students.

School Demographics

The student body at District Heights Elementary consists of 454 students.  Student data from 2006

reflects, 96.5% African American, 0.9% Caucasian, 0.4 % Asian, and 2.2% Hispanic.  6.3% of our students are serviced through our special education inclusion program and 2.4% through our “pull-out” TAG program.  The Free And Reduced Meals (FARM) population consists of 63% of our school population.  The  staff consists of 33 members with 21 classroom teachers; one Guidance Counselor, two Special Education teachers, 0.4 Speech Therapist, 0.2 Instrumental  Music teacher, four paraprofessional educators and a teacher in each of the following special areas: Physical Education, Music, Instructional Resource, Reading, Media, Reading Recovery and Science.  30% of the certified staff holds Advanced Professional certificates, 49% Standard Professional certificates, and 13% Provisional/Conditional certificates.

Major initiatives and how these efforts will improve student performance.

District Heights Elementary students met the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for 2005-2006 school year in all areas including all subgroups in Reading and Mathematics.   MSA data from the 2005-2006 test administration revealed that school scores improved.  In Reading, the percentage of all students proficient is 61.2%, and in Mathematics, it is 55.3%.  

*In Reading, reciprocal teaching strategies, differentiated and small group instruction, and other research-based comprehension strategies will be utilized with all students. All staff members will be familiar with Emergent Reading Strategies in order to meet the needs of our Special Education, FARM, and struggling readers.  This year staff development in Reading will focus on instructional strategies that will address phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, vocabulary and fluency.  Emphasis will also be placed on deficit skill areas as dictated by MSA data.

*In Mathematics,   all staff members will be familiar with differentiated instruction in order to meet the needs of our Special Education, FARM, struggling and “at-risk” learners. Daily timed tests “Mental Math” will be reintroduced and “spiraling” of the core indicators will be increased.  This year staff development in Mathematics will focus on instructional strategies that will address mathematics communication, problem solving, reasoning and making connections.  Emphasis will also be placed on deficit skill areas as dictated by MSA data.

*Attendance will continue to be monitored closely.  For the 2005-2006 school year, District Heights Elementary had an attendance rate of 93.7%. The administrative staff will review attendance policy on a monthly basis, highlighting students in need of intervention, relative to the Intervention for Schools in School Improvement (ISIS) reform model.

Free and Reduced Meals Program (FARM)/Special Education (SPED)

District Heights Elementary 2006 MSA scores indicate that the scores in Reading and Mathematics of the Farm and SPED students have increased.  Through monthly data utilization meetings and analysis of student samples, the progress of SPED and FARM students will be carefully monitored. 

Safe and Orderly Environment

The staff at District Heights Elementary believes in a shared expectation of courtesy, respect and responsibility at all grade levels for all students.  A school-wide discipline plan that is proactive and preventive in nature is maintained.  A character education program and a peer mediation program were implemented in an effort to ensure a safe and orderly environment.  This plan supports teaching and learning in the classrooms.  The Code of Student Conduct is reviewed quarterly with the student body.       

Parent Involvement