2014-15 District School Improvement Plans

By Marianne Deal Stephens

Every year, the Shoreline School District releases updated School Improvement Plans (SIPs) for every school in the district.

The state superintendent's office (OSPI) explains that “School Improvement is a continuous process schools use to ensure that all students are achieving at high levels . . . each school district receiving state basic education funds MUST develop a school improvement plan or process based on a self-review of the school’s program.” See website 

Why should parents care about SIPs? These plans might appear to be just another bureaucratic requirement that does not have a connection to the classroom. It is true that both creating and making sense of an SIP involves digestion of data: SIPs present student data by subject areas and demographic groups, and set goals for improvement.

However, a careful look at an SIP can give parents a big-picture sense of what happens at their student’s school. What needs have the staff identified? What means will be employed to address those needs? Whose responsibility are those means? What goals are behind the assignments and emphases in the classroom? Parents might discover some of the "why" behind the assignments and activities they hear about at home.

At the November 17 Shoreline School Board Meeting, Director of Teaching and Learning Teri Poff discussed the 2014-15 school improvement plans and Einstein Principal Stephanie Clark presented the plan for Einstein Middle School. The SIPs for district schools are similar but not identical; most schools discuss strategies to address achievement gaps, yet the means to address those varies. Each staff has autonomy to set achievement goals and select proven strategies to meet those goals.

This year, the SIPs come with a caveat. With Washington State changing to the Common Core State Standards and to a new “Smarter Balanced” testing system, setting targets for improvement is challenging since nobody knows how scores on the new tests will compare with scores on the old tests.

Given this difficulty, the District has come up with an overall guideline: if our district was higher than the state average on previous tests, we would like to be at least that same percentage above the state average on the Smarter Balanced tests.

Principal Stephanie Clark explained that Einstein Middle School emphasizes problem solving and perseverance, and has focused attention on achievement gaps with the intention of having an equitable learning environment for all students. Principal Clark described how every Professional Learning Community (teachers’ academic department in middle or high school, or grade cohort in elementary schools) focused on the new Common Core State Standards that include an emphasis on literacy across all subject areas. The staff will encourage all students to think, discuss, question, and problem-solve.

The new School Improvement Plans can be found via the “Schools” tab on the District website. 

Links to the School Improvement Plans in pdf form below.

Elementary Schools

• Briarcrest Elementary
• Brookside Elementary
• Echo Lake Elementary
• Highland Terrace Elementary
• Lake Forest Park Elementary
• Meridian Park Elementary
• Parkwood Elementary
• Ridgecrest Elementary
• Syre Elementary

K-8 School

• Cascade K-8

Middle Schools

• Einstein Middle School
• Kellogg Middle School

High Schools

• Shorecrest High School
• Shorewood High School

Preschool/ Elementary Extended Day

• Children’s Center and Extended Day Programs