Lakeview Middle School (2020)

  1. PLC Story
  2. PLC Practices
  3. Achievement Data
  4. Awards
  5. Resources

     Welcome to Lakeview Middle School, home of the Warriors. Located in the northern most part of Catoosa County, less than 5 miles from the Tennessee state line, Lakeview Middle is the oldest, and one of 3 middle schools in the rapidly growing Catoosa County School District. Catoosa County is the fastest growing county in Northwest Georgia, while located only minutes from Tennessee and Alabama. The Catoosa County School District, as well as the close proximity to Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Atlanta are sought after amenities for growing families that still want the small town environment that Catoosa County has to offer. With that growth also comes changes. While the Lakeview Middle School district is bordered by Hamilton and Walker Counties, the new growth and development continues further south in what was the less populated areas of our county. This growth required the addition of a 3rd middle and high school approximately 15 years ago. Over the next few years enrollment and population shifted to the new schools and surrounding community developments for the families that perceived new as better. Lakeview Middle School has struggled with the demographic, cultural, and community impact from these changes.

      In 2016-2017, with a new administrative team in place, we attended our first Solution Tree Workshop. At this time, we were a “Needs Improvement” school based on our CCRPI score. With the full support of our district we began our PLC journey. We began our process with some new steps, but also evaluated the programs and plans we already had in place to see if they aligned with our vision and goals, and the 3 Big Ideas of the PLC Process.

 

  • Collected data to see where we were, and set goals for where we wanted to be

  • PLC sessions were scheduled for one day a week by grade level and content to allow for more collaboration time

  • Created a Run PLC classroom so teachers could share lesson plans and activities

  • We began having discussions about the technology programs we were using to look at data

  • We began evaluating our Response to Intervention Program

  • Additional faculty members began attending Solution Tree workshops

  • Scheduled monthly professional learning days focusing on areas of need for teacher development

  • Began asking the 4 Questions of the PLC Process

  • ELT (extended learning time) scheduled 1 period a day

     This was also the training year for the PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports) program. This program is based on creating positive relationships with all students in the building, and promoting The Warrior Way, our school wide expectations for all students.  These expectations are learning to succeed, making responsible choices, and showing respect. Data generated from this program allows us to pinpoint areas of behavior that need improvement, and areas that need to be celebrated. 

     In 2017-2018, we began the year with a stronger focus on the 3 Big Ideas of the PLC process. Our county implemented monthly academic coach and administrative meetings to reinforce and strengthen our PLC journey. At this time our 3 middle schools also began consistent collaboration  involving our administrators and academic coaches. Our teams developed norms to guide our work as a PLC. Although this was our 2nd year with a Reading interventionist we realized we were still unable to meet the needs of all the students 2 or more grade levels below in Reading and Math, so we adjusted our ELT schedule throughout the year to accommodate the remediation and reteaching of tier 2 and 3 students. Throughout the school year we continued to send faculty to Solution Tree workshops which helped with the overall clarification of the PLC process, as well as the school-wide “buy in” of the PLC journey. We asked each team to self-evaluate their existing collaborative team while looking at norms, data collection, and development of smart goals based on our current reality. We evaluated our leadership team goals and commitments, and began our plans for the following year.

     We began the 2018-2019 school year focusing on the 4 critical questions of the PLC process. Essential standards for each content area were evaluated school and county wide to ensure everyone was on the same page. This helped  with revising our pacing guides and creating common formative assessments.Weekly PL sessions were used to break down standards into targets and kid-friendly terms. Although data showed improvement in student achievement, we continued to have a large percentage of students scoring 2 or more grade levels below in Math and Reading, so we made some significant school-wide schedule changes. We implemented ELT (extended learning time) twice a day. One period for Math and one for Reading. Bells were eliminated from the schedule. Students would move seamlessly from one class to another avoiding 5-10 minute intervals between classes. A protocol for data teams was implemented and a common assessment team reflection was used to analyze data from CFAs. In planning for the following year, we asked our teachers to read Chapter 4 in “Kid by Kid, Skill by Skill” to prepare for PL sessions for the upcoming year.

     The Lakeview Middle School  PLC journey continues with strengthening and clarifying the practices we already have in place, and implementing next steps for ongoing professional development to ensure continuous learning for both faculty and students. Mid-year the faculty  completed a Needs Assessment - A Review of our Current Status asking the question: Where are we? We continued our study using Kid by Kid, Skill by Skill in our weekly PL sessions. Collaborative teams have focused on clarification of learning targets for each standard and revision of pacing guides, and strengthening their CFA’s while evaluating their level of rigor. Teams use PLC reflection sheets to share data analysis and what areas of the PLC process they are focusing on each week. They use google classroom to provide Breaking Down the Standards documentation and pacing guides for each unit. We were excited to receive the 5 Star PBIS Climate Award this year, which shows the continuous improvement in our school wide cultural shift.


 

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Essential standards training was conducted at the county level involving all subject areas and grade levels. Standards were then broken into learning targets and student-friendly I Can statements. Teachers use this information to revise curriculum maps and pacing guides for each unit, as well as creating CFA’s, and for determining rigor and mastery for each identified learning target. Collaborative teams decide on the frequency of giving common formative assessments based on the amount of time determined to adequately teach the content. School wide expectation is at least every two weeks. Tier 2 remediation occurs 30 minutes twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Teachers also build buffer days into their pacing guides. These days are used to remediate students struggling with mastery of current content and essential standards, as well as extension activities for the “nice to know” standards for students showing mastery. Those students are identified on Tuesdays during our grade level/content team meetings. Team reflection protocol is used when content/grade level teams meet weekly to plan and strategize their units and lessons, as well as analyzing data from CFA’s and CSA’s to ensure student learning, and determine which students need remediation, and/or extension activities. In the classroom, teachers use common practices like exit slips, quick checks, and open-ended questioning to ensure student learning. Many teachers have students self-monitoring mastery of learning targets for each unit. County-wide benchmarks are given 3 times a year for Reading and Math to monitor student progress. Our master schedules accommodate for Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 instruction where students have access to a guaranteed and viable curriculum during regular academic time throughout the day. Our data is trending upward with students, including subgroups showing proficiency in Math and English Language Arts on the EOG Georgia Milestones Assessment, and significant increases on our Reading and Math benchmarks.

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

At Lakeview Middle School we use a tiered intervention system with our ELT (extended learning time) targeting our Tier 3 students in Reading and Math. Students at Lakeview Middle have one Math ELT and one Reading ELT 40 minutes a day, four days a week. Even though our Tier 3 student numbers have slowly decreased over the last three years, we keep the process fluid while making regular adjustments based on student need and progress.  Reading Plus, Ascend Math, and i-Ready Math are used for intensive Tier 3 intervention.  Incentives and celebrations are used to motivate and recognize student progress, such as freezer pops, Warrior Game Room passes, and earning Warrior Ones to spend in the Warrior Way store. Student progress is monitored weekly by the teachers, and monthly by the Academic Coach. 

In addition to Tier 2 and Tier 3 time, we offer after school tutoring three days a week in Reading and Math. Students in the extension ELT’s participate in novel studies, enrichment writing, stem activities, robotics, band, drama, and art. Our journey to become a stronger PLC shows with our continued student improvement in  benchmark data, for Reading and Math, especially in cohort groups. Lexile scores also continue to show improvement each year. 

 

3. Building teacher capacity to work as members of high performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students.

The Lakeview Middle School team has many different components in place to help build capacity throughout the entire building for focusing efforts on improved learning for all students. Teachers participate in professional learning opportunities, team collaborations, teacher observations to improve their instructional practices, and county wide essential standards training and planning per grade level and content. Approximately 50% of our faculty has attended Solution Tree Summits, RTI workshops, and Solution Tree Math workshops over the past four years. Faculty also attend other outside professional learning opportunities as the need is established, such as PBIS workshops, special education training, and training on various programs we use in the building and county for benchmarks, intervention, and data collection. Our master schedule includes a planning time each day, as well as common lunch times where grade level content teams can collaborate and plan together. These teams have a set data team meeting every other Tuesday with the three administrators and academic coach, and professional learning on the other Tuesdays of each month. Each quarter a ½ day is planned for each collaborative team where substitutes are scheduled so the team can meet to adjust pacing guides, identify standards and targets for the next unit, create/revise CFA’s, and develop lesson plans. Our team meetings are driven by these 4 questions: 1)What do we want our students to learn? 2)How do we know they are learning it? 3)How do we respond when they do not learn it? and 4) What do we do when students have already learned it?   Our common meeting place is room 208, and on the board is the acronym:

T-ogether

E-veryone

A-chieves

M-ore

 

 A Leadership Team consisting of all three administrators, academic coach, counselor, and team leaders from each content area meets twice monthly to collaborate, share, and plan for school-wide decisions, instructional practices, and functions leading to continuous improvement at Lakeview Middle. Each quarter we have grade level celebrations where we give away PBIS and Academic prizes and rewards highlighting student accomplishments and faculty recognition. Rewards include pizza/food parties, visits from the snow cone truck, ice cream, field trips, game room parties, lunch with teachers and principals, and gift cards. Our cultural shift continues to show improvement starting in 2017-2018 with the full implementation of PBIS. Office referrals showed an approximate 50% decrease from the previous year, and continues on a downward trend for referrals each year.

One of our take-aways from the Kid by Kid, Skill by Skill study reads: "The goal isn’t to just be a member of a team. The goal is to be a contributing member of a high-performing team.” That is our focus on our journey to continuous improvement of student learning in our building.  

 

Achievement Data Files

Additional Achievement Data

In comparison to the other two middle schools in our county, Lakeview Middle School has a greater population of economically disadvantaged students. All three middle schools use the same benchmarks. The past three years, Lakeview Middle School benchmark data in Reading and Math has shown similar or higher gains in the same grade levels in comparison to the other two middle schools. The charts provided will highlight Reading and Math benchmark data for Lakeview Middle School including subgroups, as well as some comparision data from the other two middle schools. Lakeview Middle School beginning of the year benchmark scores for each of the 3 years was greater than the benchmark the year before both in Reading and Math showing the students beginning the year at a greater level than the year before. While the other middle schools, RMS and HMS (a non-Title 1 school), do not show the increase in both content areas.

  • Lakeview Middle School shows an increase of students on or above grade level on the Reading Plus benchmark for the past three years (2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20).  (Chart A)
  • Lakeview Middle School shows a greater increase than the other two middle schools, of students on or above grade level on the 6th grade Reading Plus benchmark for the past 3 years. (LMS 2017-2018 13% increase, 2018-2019 14% increase, 2019-2020 14% increase) (RMS 2017-2018 10% increase, 2018-2019 9% increase, 2019-2020 13% increase) (HMS 2017-2018 11% increase, 2018-2019 11% increase, 2019-2020 12% increase) (Chart A, H, and J)
  • In 2017-2018, the percentage of students at Lakeview Middle, on or above grade level in 6th grade Reading shows an increase of 13% from the fall to winter benchmark. Whereas, the other two middle schools, RMS and HMS, show a 10% and 11% increase respectively. The same cohort as 7th graders in 2018-2019 shows a 10% increase from the fall to winter benchmark. RMS and HMS show a 13% increase. As 8th graders in 2019-2020, the same students show an increase of 10%, whereas RMS and HMS show a 14% and 5% increase respectively. (Chart A, H, and J)
  • A cohort group of students entering 6th grade in the fall 2017-2018 shows a 26% increase from the fall 2017-2018 Reading Plus benchmark to the winter Reading Plus benchmark given their 8th grade year in 2019-2020. In comparison, HMS, a non-Title 1 middle school, reported the same increase. (Chart A and J)
  • The 6th grade 2017-2018 cohort group shows an increase of 49% within the Reading lexile stretchband and above, to an increase of 72% in 2019-2020 as 8th grade students. (Chart A)
  • Reading Plus subgroup data from 2017-2020 shows continual increases from the fall benchmark to the winter benchmark each year with the increases being more significant in the economically disadvantaged subgroup. (Chart E, F, G)
  • Lakeview Middle School shows an increase of students on or above grade level on the Math benchmarks for the past three years (2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20). (Chart A)
  • A Lakeview Middle School cohort group of students shows a 23% increase on the Math benchmarks from 2017-2018 to 2019-2020. Whereas, RMS and HMS cohorts had a 10% increase and a 21% increase respectively. (Chart A, H, and J)
  • In 2017-2018, the percentage of students at Lakeview Middle, on or above grade level in 6th grade Math shows an increase of 10% from the fall to winter Math benchmark. Whereas, the other two middle schools, RMS and HMS, show a 7% and 10% increase respectively. The same cohort as 7th graders in 2018-2019 shows a 13% increase from the fall to winter benchmark, whereas RMS and HMS both show a 12% increase. As 8th graders  in 2019-2020, the same students show an increase of 13%, whereas, RMS and HMS show a 17% and 23% increase respectively. (Chart A, H, and J)
  • Lakeview Middle School subgroups on Math benchmarks show continuous increases from 2017-2020. In comparison to the Reading benchmark data, the Math benchmark data shows higher increases from year to year. (Chart B, C, D, and E, F, G)

Although some of the increases may be small, Lakeview Middle School demographics are vastly different from the other two middle schools in the county, with one of them being a non-Title 1 school.

  • 2016 - The Georgia Governor's Office of Student Achievement - Beating the Odds
  • 2017-2018- PBIS Emerging School
  • 2018-2019- Operational School
  • 2018-2019- PBIS 5 Star School Climate Rating


Beating the Odds is a statistical analysis that compares a school’s actual performance on the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) with the performance of schools with similar characteristics across the state. Schools that perform higher than similar schools are considered “Beating the Odds.” 

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