JoAnn Leleck Elementary School at Broad Acres

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

Despite having the pressures of being a high-profile Title I school and growth in the student population, JoAnn Leleck Elementary School @ Broad Acres has retained the majority of its teachers while increasing staff size over the last three years.

 Teacher satisfaction is high, as evidenced by school climate data. In the district's 2012 Survey of School Environment, 95.2% of teachers indicated that they get satisfaction from their work, and 95.3% of staff indicated that staff members are respected regardless of their culture, race, or gender.  Additionally, 100% of staff indicated that this school has high expectations for the academic performance of all students.

Additionally, 100% of parents indicated that they feel welcomed in the school.

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Student achievement is monitored in a number of ways. At the classroom level, teachers meet weekly in grade and/or content level teams to collaboratively develop an instructional plan for implementing the Common Core State Standards.  Teachers also meet on a weekly basis for the specific purposes of analyzing student performance data. Teachers share student data, analyze trends common strengths and pitfalls, and make instructional and programmatic changes based on their findings. These meetings include other key professional staff members including the Special Education teacher, ESOL teacher, Staff Development Teacher, Reading Specialist, Math Content Coach, and intervention teachers.  Administrators attend the meetings when possible and read the notes distributed.

Each teacher is also required to create a Student Learning Objective (SLO) goal, which aligns with the School Improvement Plan. SLO goals are measureable instructional goals established by the teacher for a specific group of students over a set period of time.  SLO goals are monitored twice yearly.

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

As a Title I school, funding is used to purchase teaching positions that directly support student learning. As a result, at each grade level there is reading and math intervention for students whose data demonstrates the need for additional time and resources. Student interventions are specific and based on need. For example, students who are below grade level receive a double dose of guided reading instruction on a daily basis.  Students who may be demonstrating weaknesses in reading comprehension would receive intervention that is specifically for building strategies to gain meaning. Still other students may only be demonstrating weaknesses in phonics. The interventions for these students are crafted specifically to meet those needs.

Intervention teachers attend weekly data meetings with each grade level so that intervention provided to the students are specific, timely, and individualized.

The master schedule is dually driven by student need and the ability of staff to support student learning. Grade and content level teacher teammates are given common planning time four times weekly. 

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

JoAnn Leleck Elementary @ Broad Acres has several systematic ways to build teacher capacity. Quarterly, teachers meet in content-alike School Improvement Teams, in which they receive professional development, discuss curriculum, review research, and plan vertically. Monthly staff meetings are purely professional development as administrative matters are handled through electronic communication and other means. Our staff development teacher also provides teachers with hands-on job-embedded professional development that is tailored to the teachers' individual needs. Numerous other workshops and sessions are held on an as needed basis.

Additional Achievement Data

State Averages: Broad Acres/State of Maryland

Grade 3 (school/state)

  2010-2011   2011-2012 2   2012-2013  
Math   85.7/86.3    86.8/87.7    45.3/82.2  
Reading  84.6/85.1    74.7/85       66.7/82.6  

Grade 4 (school/state)

  2010-2011  2011-2012     2012 - 2013  
Math  98.6/90.3 93.6/89.8      85.1/88.8  
Reading  89.9/88.7 92.3/89.8      82.8/88.2  

Grade 5 (school/state)

     2010 - 2011      2011-2012     2012-2013  
Math   97.3/82.2 96.4/85.3 84.6/80.8  
Reading   92/90.2 91.7/90 84.6/88.4  

2014 MSA data was not included as the data did not include the entire student population die to PARCC field test.  Additionally, due to the roll-out of the Common Core Curriculum, the MSA test did not match the taught curriculum.

 

Please feel free to comment on any aspect of the data that you feel is particularly significant.

JoAnn Leleck Elementary School @ Broad Acres is the most impoverished of the 202 public schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. Despite a 95% FARMS rate, a high mobility rate, and a student body of which nearly three-quarters speak English as a Second Language, JoAnn Leleck’s students have made gains in student achievement over the last fifteen years.

 In the spring of 2000, results of state testing showed that students at Broad Acres were performing at very low levels. Scores on Maryland State Performance Assessment Program tests were similar to those of schools being taken over by the state: only 11.8% of third graders were proficient in reading and only 5.3% showed proficiency in math, while at fifth grade, 21% were proficient in reading and 15% in math.

 In the spring of 2001, school staff, in cooperation with district and union leaders, undertook a three-year program to internally restructure the school. By 2004, 75% of third graders demonstrated reading proficiency on the new Maryland State Assessment (MSA) and 67% demonstrated math proficiency. Fifth grade students showed comparable gains: 54% demonstrated reading proficiency and 60% math proficiency. Similarly, the 2004 CTBS scores for second graders were on par with some of the highest-performing schools in Montgomery County, showing increases of 26% to 70%.

 Focused and targeted instruction led to a change in the achievement levels of students at then, Broad Acres, now JoAnn Leleck. The school made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) every year since 2006. In 2010, 94.5 percent of Broad Acres' students scored proficient or advanced on MSA in Math, and 84.4 percent scored proficient or advanced in Reading. In many cases, Broad Acres students outperformed students in some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country. From 2010 to 2012, students in grades 3, 4, and 5 exceeded the MCPS averages in math proficiency.  Students in grades 4 and 5, exceeded the state averages in Reading proficiency.

  • Home of National Teacher of the Year, Kim Oliver, in 2006.
  • Featured in upcoming Harvard Business School case study.
  • Featured in Washington Post column, Working Together.
  • Featured in MCPS Case Study used in MCPS' Professional Learning Communities Institute.
  • Recipient, Maryland State Department of Education Performance Recognition Program, 2008.
  • Hosted visits by numerous local and national organizations, schools and school districts, including:
    • San Francisco Unified School District
    • Deputy Minister of Education of Singapore
    • National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
    • BROAD Foundation
    • New America Foundation
    • New Leaders for New Schools
    • David and Lucile Packard Foundation
    • Journalists from The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Gazette

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