haribbens

__**PHASE I**__ __**PHASE II**__ I was pleasantly surprised that out all the questions that I asked, only one question was not answered. To not put a ton of pressure on the teachers and administrators that I was interviewing, I told them from the very beginning that they only had to answer the questions that they were comfortable with answering. To save time the three people that I interviewed in the building thought it would be a good idea to answer the questions in one big group, since there are two other Cardinal Stritch students right now at Stormonth Elementary. Actually, having everyone sit down in one big group was beneficial because then I could see how the three professionals within the building work together and see how their answers either matched or differed. Surprisingly, all of their answers matched and really they only supported each other’s answers by adding to one’s thought or ideas. From what I have seen in the few weeks that I have been at Stormonth, there really is a sense of comradery amongst the teachers and administrators within the building which is really refreshing to see.
 * || **Phase 2 - St. Joseph's Elementary - Grafton**  ||  **Field 3 - Stormonth Elementary - Fox Point**  ||
 * Mission and goals of the school || At St. Joseph’s Parish School, their mission is dedicated to nurturing gospel values within all their students and at the same time ensuring that their students know that they have intrinsic worth, goodness, and potential. Their goal for all their students is to make Catholic faith an integral part of their students’ lives. They do this by providing opportunities for their students to become concerned and active citizens in their community St. Joseph Parish School, (2011). || At Stormonth Elementary School, their mission is to instill positive behaviors and attitudes as part of a strong foundational education. Their goal for all of their students is for them to embody respect, responsibility, accountability, and civility, while at the same time ensuring students are fully engaged and learning at their individual maximum capacity (Fox Point – Bayside School District, 2012). ||
 * Demographics of the community || St. Joseph Parish School is located in the Village of Grafton, which is also located within Ozaukee County. As of 2010, the Village of Grafton had a total population of 11,459 people (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Out of the 11,459 people that live in the Village of Grafton, 95% of them are white, 1.7% are Asian, 0.7% are African American, and 0.3% are Native American (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). The Village of Grafton appears to not be a community that is very diverse in terms of race or ethnicity, with the majority of the community consisting of white residents. || Stormonth Elementary School is located in the Village of Fox Point, which is also located within Milwaukee County. As of 2010, the Village of Fox Point had a total population of 6,701 people (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). Out of the 6,701 people that live in the Village of Fox Point, 91% of them are white, 3.7% are Asian, and 2.8% are African American, and 2.6% are Hispanic (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). The Village of Fox Point appears to not be a very diverse community, with the majority of their community consisting of white residents. ||
 * Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity || Out of the 198 students that attend St. Joseph’s, 95% are white and the other 5% are Asian or American Indian (Henke, 2011). First grade, fourth grade and the middle school consist of only white students, while the rest of the grades have an average of 3 students in each classroom that are of a different race (Henke, 2011). There are no students that attend St. Joseph’s that are African American. These findings are not surprising at all because the majority of students that attend St. Joseph’s also live within the Village of Grafton and the Village of Grafton is 95% white (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). It appears that St. Joseph’s is not a very diverse school, with the majority of their students being white. || Out of the 520 students that attend Stormonth Elementary, 74% are white, 13.5% are African American, 8.1% are Asian, and 3.3% are Hispanic (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2012). Just like the Village of Fox Point’s demographics, Stormonth Elementary is not very diverse with having a higher percentage of white students. ||
 * Student Performance on WKCE by Race/Ethnicity || The students at St. Joseph’s take the ITBS standardized test. The test is administered to students in kindergarten through eighth grade as part of the Iowa Statewide Testing Programs, a division of the Iowa Testing Programs (ITP) (The University of Iowa, 2011). Student performance on ITBS test is unavailable. || At Stormonth Elementary there is clearly a performance gap on the WKCE when performance is compared by race/ethnicity. Out of the 172 students that took the WKCE, 73.8% white students scored in the advanced range, while African American students scored 28.6% in the same range (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2012). When you look at how many students scored in the basic range, only 1.6% white students scored in the basic range, while 28.6% African American students scored in the same range (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2012). Lastly, 23% white students scored in the proficient range, while 14.3% African American students scored in the same range (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2012). There is only an 8.7% difference between the scores between the white students and African American students who scored under the proficient range, which is the smallest gap out of all the different ranges the students scored in. ||
 * Student Performance on WKCE by Disabilities || The students at St. Joseph’s take the ITBS standardized test. Student performance on ITBS test is unavailable. || Student performance on the WKCE by disability was not reported. ||
 * Student Performance on WKCE by English Proficiency || The students at St. Joseph’s take the ITBS standardized test. Student performance on ITBS test is unavailable. || Student performance on the WKCE by English proficiency was not reported. ||

Out of all the questions that I asked them, the first one that I asked was the one that hit home for me, “What implications does this have on students learning in the classroom?” All three professional answered, “That the biggest disadvantage that the bused in kids have is their background knowledge.” They said, “That the majority of the students who participate in RTI are kids that get bused in.” Throughout my semesters at Stritch, every professor of mine has stressed the importance of background knowledge and how detrimental it is if a student’s background knowledge is lacking. I always knew that my professors were right, but it’s nice to see the results in the real world.

I was once again shocked when all three professionals answered the second question I that asked, “What “funds of knowledge” have you gained from your student’s families?” For some reason I thought they were not going to have anything to respond with, but they ended up surprising me. They informed me, “That they receive so much parent involvement that it can be a burden sometimes.” There are quite a bit of students who have been diagnosed with having Autism at Stormonth and the students’ parents are extremely active in their children’s education. For example, there is one parent that will scan in whole books for teachers to read via email. There is also another parent who has paid for a trip for a teacher to attend a conference with them regarding Autism. I have never heard of anything like this happening at a school before. I was glad to see that these parents are taking so much interest in their children’s education, but for the teachers they said, “It gets very overwhelming and sometimes it hard for them to do their jobs.”

In terms of the school promoting cultural awareness throughout the school, they really don’t do that according to my interviewees. They said, “That they have a very high Jewish population so culture is not really addressed at the school. They don’t use the word “Christmas” around the holiday time either. Although, they did say, “That cultural is addressed within the individual classrooms.” For example, right now first grade is doing a unit on the Chinese New Year. The school even goes as far as recognizing Jewish holidays by not sending any homework home during those times. On top of not sending home homework, students will also get off for Jewish holidays.

Right now Stormonth is working on meeting the needs of the 21st century student by implementing technology. As of right now, all first grade classrooms have a SMART Board within their classrooms. The special education department is currently a part of an iPad pilot program that issues iPad’s to all students with special needs and all the special education teachers. I have seen the iPad program in action and I can say that it works wonders for the students who have been diagnosed with Autism. I have seen how the iPad helps them communicate, keeps them organized, and most of all keeps them calm and at peace. The iPad’s have done wonders for the teachers. The teachers are able to communicate with parents fast and easy with the iPad’s. From what I’ve seen in classrooms today, most parents prefer to communicate via email because most of them have smartphones. Just the other week, my special education cooperative teacher contacted a parent because of a student who was out of control and sick and needed to go home. The parent was at Stormonth within the hour to pick up their child. From what I have seen at Stormonth, I can say that they are well on their way to meeting the needs of their 21st century students.

On top of being surprised by some of the answers to my questions, I also learned something new. When I asked my interviewees if they provide outreach services through the school, I learned that teachers have to be careful what they recommend to parents. If a teacher recommends a service to a parent, the parent then can turn around during the student IEP and say that the teacher recommended that and then the school would have to pay for whatever service that was recommended. No one ever told me that before. I think that is something all future teachers should know about. I can only imagine how much trouble you would get into if you recommend a service that would cost the district thousands of dollars. The teachers I interviewed said, “That if they were to even suggest something,” “They could leave information out on a table that would be suggestions for parents to look at and look into on their own.” Even though the teachers at Stormonth don’t make recommendations, they did start a summer pilot program. This last summer they rented the special education room from the school and privately were paid by the parents to take their students throughout the summer on weekly field trips. According to the special education teachers, it was very beneficial for the students to continue on a similar schedule that they do throughout the school year.

Overall, after interviewing the professionals at Stormonth Elementary, I would say the students, teachers, and administrators are all culturally proficient. All teachers within their classroom expose their students to various cultures through lesson and units. The school itself has a “No Put Down” curriculum that promotes respect, appropriate language, and all students have to sign a social contract that they are held to up hold. One of the reasons why students at Stormonth are so culturally proficient is because Stormonth is a very inclusive school. Students are exposed to students with special needs as soon as kindergarten and are with those students throughout their entire school career. Students end up being advocates for the students with special needs that are at their school. __**PHASE III**__ After researching Stormonth Elementary on the Wisconsin Information Network for Successful Schools (WINSS) and conducting interviews with the teachers and professionals at Stormonth, I have come to the conclusion that Stormonth would be a great school for any child to attend. Every school has achievement gaps, but at Stormonth they really work hard to make sure that all there students close that gap. According the WINSS website, out of all the third and fourth graders that took the WKCE test only 60% of them scored in the advanced range and 30% and above scored in the proficient range. Those are best test scores I have seen compared to the other schools that I have been placed at to observe.

The reason why Stormonth has such a small achievement gap is because of the close-knit community and the strong parent involvement at the school. Plus, it helps that the majority of the teachers that work at Stormonth seem to have the same goal…to help their students be the best that they can be. From what I have seen, there is constant communication between the parents, teachers, and administration at the school. That way everyone knows what is expect of them and no one is afraid to communicate with one another. The teachers themselves are quite protective and invested in their student’s education. To the point, that if you’re a new teacher coming into the school, that you better have your stuff together or they will eat your alive. For the most part, all the teachers and professionals within the building work together for the common goal of helping the student’s be the best they can be, without this; the achievement gap would be much greater at Stromonth. The student population at Stormonth is mostly Jewish and from what I understand cultural proficiency is not pushed at the school. They focus on strong parent involvement and technology advancements to ensure that their students are successful within their school. From what I have seen, what they seem to be doing is working.