STANDARD 15

School/program engages in a continuous improvement process for STEAM.

Impact Narrative:

At Centennial Academy, we strive for data-informed instruction and planning. Our scholars’ learning, reflections, and data help us know how we are doing as facilitators of learning, as well as shown us areas of improvement. Our teachers participate in twice-monthly data meetings where we look specifically at how we can focus our teaching strategies to improve the quality of instruction and student growth. We use our data to look for areas of student and teacher deficit to drive professional learning opportunities.

The College and Career Ready Performance Index – CCRPI – is Georgia’s tool for annually measuring how well its schools, districts, and the state are helping students achieve their goals. It provides a comprehensive road map to help educators, families, and commmunity members promote and improve college and career readiness for all students. The CCRPI can be used for communication and continuous improvement.

The CCRPI tells schools, parents, and stakeholders if students are achieving at the level necessary to be prepared for the next grade, college, and career? How much growth are students demonstrating relative to academically-similar students? Do all students and all student subgroups make improvements in achievement rates? Do students participate in activities that prepare them for and demonstrate readiness for the next level, college, or career? Are students graduating from high school with a regular diploma in four or five years?

In 2013 prior to the implementation of our charter, Centennial elementary scholars scored a CCRPI score of 68.3. Unfortunately, this score said to our community that we were a low performing school. In 2014 Centennial became a charter and in 2016 we implemented project based learning as an instructional framework to support interdisciplinary learning and our scholars thrived. In 2017 our CCRPI data improved and our elementary scholars received a CCRPI score of 82.7 and our middle school scholars received CCRPI score of 80.8. As a school community we quickly realized the benefits of incorporating PBL on scholar learning outcomes!

Reflection is also at the heart of our teaching and learning. Our scholars reflect on their growth and learning at the end of each unit of study. This reflection helps guide teachers on spotlighting those areas scholars found meaningful and engaging in their personal learning, as well as identity areas we may want to improve for future teaching. Teachers reflect at the end of every unit of study by analyzing student engagement, learning moments, successful teaching activities, and possible changes for future learning. Through this continuous review of data and reflection, we continuously improve our units of study, PBLs, and future facilitations of learning.

In addition to school level continuous improvement, our STEAM lead teacher participates in Atlanta Public Schools district STEAM monthly PLCs and training. Through district support, our school submits our STEAM strategic plan and progress monitoring to the APS STEAM coordinator to review and provide feedback towards continuous improvement in our STEAM program.

Strengths:

District Level PBL Trainings

School Level PBL Trainings

Innovative Partnerships

Initiatives/Actions:

STEAM/PBL Educator Pathway

PBL Champions

Artifacts:

School Improvement Plan

Strategic Goals Dashboard, 21-22

Remote Learning Plan

CCRPI Data, Elementary and Middle (2013) and (2017)