Colorado's Unified Improvement Plan for Schools

Fitzmorris Elementary School UIP 2021-22

Content

Document icons and definitions
Priority Performance Challenges
Root Cause
Major Improvement Strategies
Action Steps
Progress Monitoring
Trend Direction

Executive Summary

Priority Performance Challenges	Root Cause	Major Improvement Strategies
CMAS Math Achievement	Instructional Transformation Data-Driven Instruction	Delivery of rigorious grade level instruction. Engaging Learning Environment

CMAS ELA Achievement	Instructional Transformation Data-Driven Instruction	Delivery of rigorious grade level instruction. Engaging Learning Environment

Acadiance Reading Read Plans	Instructional Transformation Data-Driven Instruction	Delivery of rigorious grade level instruction. Engaging Learning Environment

CMAS Math Growth	Instructional Transformation Data-Driven Instruction

CMAS ELA Growth	Instructional Transformation Data-Driven Instruction

Acadiance Reading Achievement	Instructional Transformation Data-Driven Instruction

Access the School Performance Framework here: http://www.cde.state.co.us/schoolview/performance

Access the Literacy Curriculum Transparency Dashboard here: https://www.cde.state.co.us/code/literacycurriculumtransparency-dashboard

Improvement Plan Information

Additional Information about the school

Improvement Plan Information

The school/district is submitting this improvement plan to satisfy requirements for (check all that apply):

State Accreditation

-->

Narrative on Data Analysis and Root Cause Identification

Description of School Setting and Process for Data Analysis

Fitzmorris Elementary is a neighborhood school that serves approximately 150 students (preschool through fifth grade) in Arvada, Colorado. We are a Title 1 school and receive federal funds to support our school needs. In the 2020-2021 school year, Fitzmorris’s free/reduced lunch rate was approximately 66%. Minority students make up approximately 41% of Fitzmorris’s student population and 10% of students are ELL students. Fitzmorris’s mobility rate is approximately 13%. Fitzmorris has two Autism Spectrum Disorder center classrooms which account for 20% of the student population. Additionally, almost 50% of our general education students are on IEP’s in addition to our students in our ASD center program. The enrollment at Fitzmorris has been steadily declining over the past several years.

Our families speak a variety of languages including Spanish, Nepali, Akan and Mandarin. Our families are also diverse in their educational backgrounds and jobs. We felt the impact of COVID on our family engagement. Family engagement had been increasing leading up to COVID. We will continue to focus on family engagement through our PTA, Parent Accountability meetings, and Parent Coffees.

Since the 2018-2019 school year, Fitzmorris has partnered closely with the CDE Turnaround Team as well as the Jeffco Turnaround Support Team (TST). In the fall of 2018 CDE conducted a diagnostic review to help identify the highest priority needs for the school. From this review, in collaboration with CDE, Jeffco TST, and the stakeholders at Fitzmorris, priority indicators were identified (Culture, Data Driven Instruction, and Observation Feedback Cycles). In the fall of the 2019-2020 school year, CDE and Jeffco TST collaborated with Fitzmorris to celebrate the move from Turnaround to Improvement and to explain the identification of Fitzmorris as an ESSA school falling in comprehensive status, meaning our achievement scores were in the lowest 5%. Again, both CDE and Jeffco TST supported Fitzmorris in the assessment of need and identification of improvement strategies. In the 2020-2021 school year stakeholder groups including the school instructional leadership team, CDE and TST met to analyze school data. It was elevated during this root cause analysis that performance had been declining in achievement for the past five years. An improvement in academic growth was observed in the past two years. It was also elevated that high staff turnover both in staff and administration and declining enrollment were factors in the schools current reality. Through this process the school's major improvement strategies were established.

This year, the 2021-2022 school year, we have engaged in collaborative process (with a variety of stakeholders) to utilize the data from state assessments, Acadiance K-3 and MAP K-5 as well as acknowledging the impact of our current reality with declining enrollment and budget deficits that led to beginning of year staffing changes to identify our root causes. Alongside CDE, TST and our instructional leadership team we identified our two major improvement strategies. The strategies were shared with the entire staff and the school accountability team for feedback and all were made aware of our ESSA status. These groups will progress monitor and provide feedback on the goals throughout the year.

Prior Year Targets

Provide a summary of your progress in implementing the Major Improvement Strategies and if they had the intended effect on systems, adult actions, and student outcomes (e.g. targets).

The prior year targets in ELA for Acadiance and MAP for the 2020-2021 school year were not met. While we did our best to remain focused on high quality instruction for all students. The pandemic still impacted our day to day learning. We had some students leanring remotely the entire school year while others spent time in person and remotely based on district COVID protocols. Assessments were given both in person and remotely impacting assessment validity. The number of students on READ K-3 plans was only decreased by one student which is under the decrease of 10% in the priority target. When analyzing and comparing BOY to EOY Acadiance data our students K-3 that were meeting the EOY benchmark only increased by 5%, not meeting our goal of 10%. Additionally, when looking at students that met their Median Conditional Growth Percentile from the BOY to the EOY was below the 50% in grades 3rd-5th which does not meet our goal of 50% or higher.

As data of students was reviewed by stakeholders the need for more rigorous grade level instruction was evident. As a result we purchased a new curricular ELA resource, Wit and Wisdom. This will be paired with Geodes and Fundations to ensure that we are also providing targeted foundational skills instruction in grades K-3. Additionally, we will engage in staff wide LETRS training to build our understanding of the foundation of reading and deepen our instructional toolbox.

Based on your reflection and evaluation, provide a summary of the adjustments that you will make for this year's plan.

This data and reflection directly impacted our first major improvement strategy for the 2021-2022 school year. Utilizng our ELA resources (Wit and Wisdom, Geodes and Fundations) all students will engage and demonstrate proficiency on grade level work through the delivery of quality core instruction. We will continue to support teachers through data driven instruction, observation/feedback and monitoring of student data. We will also ensure that our master schedule is aligned to have a literacy block that ensures the appropriate amount of time for each resource.

Current Performance

Due to COVID in the 2020-2021 school year students at each grade level either took ELA or Math so there are still gaps in our data. The achievement in 3rd grade ELA for the 2020-2021 school year dropped from the previous 3rd grade achievement scores we had in 2018-2019. Our 5th grade achievement in 2020-2021 was a significant increase from the 2018-2019 school year. Our fourth grade math data is significant as it has been at 0% of students meets/exceed for both the 2018-2019 and 2020 school year. Our achievement scores are still low enough to warrant comprehensive status as a school with achievement in the bottom 5% of Title schools.

CMAS Achievement Scores for Fitzmorris Elementary - ELA
School Year	3rd Meets/Exceeds	4th Meets/Exceeds	5th Meets/Exceeds
2020-2021	18%	NA	50%
2019-2020	NA	NA	NA
2018-2019	27.3%	22.7%	21.7%
2017-2018	15.4%	20.9%	15%

CMAS Achievement Scores for Fitzmorris Elementary - Math
School Year	3rd Meets/Exceeds	4th Meets/Exceeds	5th Meets/Exceeds
2020-2021	NA	0%	NA
2019-2020	NA	NA	NA
2018-2019	24.2%	0%	8.7%
2017-2018	19.2%	4.2%	0%

CMAS Achievement Scores for Fitzmorris Elementary - Science
School Year	5th Meets/Exceeds
2020-2021	NA
2019-2020	NA
2018-2019	8.7%
2017-2018	5.3%

Due to COVID we continue to not have growth data for ELA/Math. Additionally, our N continues to be too small to report out on each grade level and in some cases to report out at all.

CMAS Growth Scores for Fitzmorris Elementary Our N-size is too small to report out at each grade
School Year	ELA - Overall MGP	Math - Overall MGP
2020-2021	NA due to COVID	NA due to COVID
2019-2020 (COVID)	NA due to COVID	NA due to COVID
2018-2019 (4th and 5th)	50.0 MGP	33.0 MGP
2017-2018 (4th and 5th)	33.5 MGP	16.0 MGP
2016-2017 (4th, 5th and 6th)	48.0 MGP	30.0 MGP

Fitzmorris is a small school and therefore doesn't have a large enough N-size to have subgroup data available in most highly detailed subgroups, therefore the following information is the most reliable disaggregated data available. General trends for the following disaggregated data from CMAS show that our non-minority students perform higher than our minority students (this is in line with the trend from the state as well). Fitzmorris underperforms compared to the state in almost all categories, with the performance of students who qualify for FRL being the closest to the state. This data also confirms the trend of decreasing achievement bottoming out in the 2017-2018 school year, with the 2018-2019 school year showing trends toward increasing achievement. Lastly, this data confirms that Fitzmorris is performing higher in ELA than in math.

Disaggregated CMAS Data by Subgroup - ELA Scores Listed as Mean Scale Scores
School Year	Fitz vs. CO	Minority Students	Non-Minority Students	FRL Eligible	Not FRL Eligible
2020-2021	Fitzmorris	739	*	*	*
2020-2021	Colorado	749.9	759.1	738.6	759.5
2019-2020		NA	NA	NA	NA
2018-2019	Fitzmorris	717.1	737.5	724.5	734.7
2018-2019	Colorado	733.8	753.3	729.2	755.6
2017-2018	Fitzmorris	719.5	730.6	727.7	723.8
2017-2018	Colorado	733.4	752.4	728.9	755.1
2016-2017	Fitzmorris	731.1	739.9	736	736.4
2016-2017	Colorado	732	751	727.6	753.9

*Our N is not large enough for a Mean Scale Score to be available for the 2020-2021 school year due to limited participation.

Disaggregated CMAS Data by Subgroup - Math Scores Listed as Mean Scale Scores
School Year	Fitz vs. CO	All Students	Minority Students	Non-Minority Students	FRL Eligible	Not FRL Eligible
2020-2021	FItzmorris	*	*	*	*	*
2020-2021	Colorado	742.3	737.7	744.6	722.5	745.7
2019-2020		NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2018-2019	Fitzmorris	716.3	710.1	722.4	714.3	721.2
2018-2019	Colorado	737.2	727.8	745.8	723.3	748
2017-2018	Fitzmorris	712.2	704.7	717.1	711.8	713
2017-2018	Colorado	743.4	727.1	745.4	722.7	748
2016-2017	Fitzmorris	722.1	716.2	726.6	720.5	724.8
2016-2017	Colorado	736.6	726.6	745.7	722.6	748.3

*Our N is not large enough for a Mean Scale Score to be available for the 2020-2021 school year due to limited participation.

Due to N size for students with IEP's we could not insert specific data. However, there is a signifcant gap between the percentage of students without IEP's meeting or exceeding in both Math and ELA CMAS achievement compared to students with IEPs.

This Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) data confirms the same trends as the data shown above. 2017-2018 shows very low growth (consistent with achievement and growth trends from CMAS). While this MAP data certainly highlights some grade levels as growing faster than others, it does show the general trend of growth starting in 2018-2019 and continuing into the 2019-2020 school year. It also demonstrates consistency with CMAS in growth being lower in math than ELA.

MAP Scores for Fitzmorris Elementary - ELA School Conditional Growth Percentile
School Year	3rd	4th	5th
2020-2021 (BOY-MOY)	7	21	3
2020-2021 (BOY-MOY)	1	1	1
2019-2020 (BOY-MOY)	67	26	95
2018-2019 (BOY-EOY)	59	18	23
2017-2018 (BOY-EOY)	42	1	1

MAP Scores for Fitzmorris Elementary - Math School Conditional Growth Percentile
School Year	3rd	4th	5th
2020-2021 (BOY-MOY)	1	5	72
2020-2021 (BOY-MOY)	1	18	38
2019-2020 (BOY-MOY)	5	1	1
2018-2019 (BOY-EOY)	69	44	13
2017-2018 (BOY-EOY)	10	1	1

ACCESS Testing for ELLS

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, state and district assessments were not administered in the spring of 2020. Fitzmorris does use ACCESS testing data to plan for sheltered instruction for students who are language learners. However, our N-size is not 16 or more, and therefore we don’t have detailed ACCESS data at the school level.

READ Plans

Last year students were taking assessments both in person and remotely due to COVID. At the end of last school year only 25% of our students met or exceeded the expectation on EOY Acadiance data. This is a significant increase from the 2018-2019 school year when 52% of students met or exceeded the expectation (we do not have EOY data from 2019-2020 due to COVID). Historically, READ plans continue to increase at Fitzmorris.

Acadiance Data K-3
	2019-2020		2020-2021			2021-2022
Grade	BOY Red/Yellow Composite	MOY Red/Yellow Composite	BOY Red/Yellow Composite	MOY Red/Yellow Composite	EOY Red/Yellow Composite	BOY Red/Yellow Composite
K	50%	39%	46%	100%	75%	87%
1st	88%	72%	81%	65%	57%	67%
2nd	52%	50%	65%	57%	62%	62%
3rd	46%	54%	54%	74%	23%	55%

READ plans continue to be a concern that will be addressed in our Priority Performance Challenges. After analyzing BOY Acadiance data, there are 61 students (53.5%) that are either on or eligible for a READ plan and of these 61 students, 30 are students with IEP’s.

Trend Analysis

Trend Direction: Decreasing
Performance Indicator Target: Academic Achievement (Status)

The majority of Fitzmorris Elementary students have not met or exceeded CMAS Math expectations between 2016-2020. School-wide averages of students meeting/exceeding expectations for math has decreased from 12%(2016-17), to .08%(2017-18), and then increased to 13%(2018-2019) and decreased to 0%(2020-2021). This trend is notable in showing that far less than 80% of students are meeting/exceeding expectations on CMAS. While the data for the 2020-2021 school year was only that of fourth grade students due to assessment changes during COVID schoolwide data would support that 3rd and 5th grade data would still be far below 80% and on a downward trend.

Trend Direction: Decreasing then increasing
Performance Indicator Target: Academic Achievement (Status)

The majority of Fitzmorris Elementary students have not met or exceeded CMAS ELA expectations from 2016-2020. School-wide averages of students meeting/exceeding expectations for ELA has decreased from 28.9%(2016-17), to 17%(2017-18), and then increased to 24.3%(2018-2019), to 50%(2019-2020). This trend is notable in two ways: first, the average percentage of students meeting/exceeding expectations had been decreasing until two years ago when we have seen an increase. While the data for the 2020-2021 school year was only that of 3rd and 5th grade students due to assessment changes during COVID it does show a 25% increase in a year. However, our achievement data in ELA is still well below 80%.

Trend Direction: Decreasing
Performance Indicator Target: Academic Achievement (Status)

The achievement trends for Fitzmorris Elementary students consistently declined from 2017-2021 for Acadience (DIBELS). The percent of students meeting or exceeding the End of Year benchmark has consistently decreased from 67% (2017-18), to 52% (2018-19), to no EOY data (2019-20), to 43% (2020-21). This trend is notable in that we have a significant decline in the number of students demonstrating proficiency on early literacy skills. Our data is well below district averages for students meeting or exceeding end of year Acadiance benchmarks.

Trend Direction: Decreasing then increasing
Performance Indicator Target: Academic Growth

We continue to not have growth data for CMAS due to COVID 19. Trend statement based on previous data trends and other formative assessments. The growth trend for Fitzmorris Elementary students consistently declined from 2015-2018 and then increased in 2019 for CMAS Math. The MGP for all students in math has consistently decreased from 51 MGP (2015-16), to 30 MGP (2016-17), to 16 MGP (2017-18), and then increased to 33 MGP (2018-2019). This trend is notable in two ways: first, the MGP for all students in CMAS Math has consistently decreased in the past three years until last year; second, while there was an increase last year, the trend still shows that Fitzmorris students are drastically under performing compared to the district and the state. Other formative data, including student growth data on MAP, would indicate that students are still drastically underperforming compared to the district and state.

Trend Direction: Decreasing then increasing
Performance Indicator Target: Academic Growth

We continue to not have growth data for CMAS due to COVID 19. Trend statement based on previous data trends and other formative assessments. The growth trends for Fitzmorris Elementary students consistently declined from 2015-2019 for CMAS ELA. The MGP for all students in ELA has consistently decreased from 59 MGP (2015-16), to 48 MGP (2016-17), to 33.5 MGP (2017-18), and then increased to 50 MGP (2018-2019). This trend is notable in two ways: first, the MGP for all students in CMAS ELA has consistently decreased in the past three years until last year; second, while there was an increase last year that puts Fitzmorris at the same growth rate as the state, the trend shows that Fitzmorris students are still under performing compared to the district. Other formative data, including student growth data on MAP, would indicate that students are still drastically underperforming compared to the district and state.

Trend Direction: Decreasing
Performance Indicator Target: Student Behavior

The trends for disruptive student behavior for Fitzmorris Elementary students are decreasing from 2017-2018 to 2018-2019. The number of Tier III behavior referrals has decreased from 545 (2017-2018), to 144 (2018-2019), and then increased to 151 (2019-2020). It is notebale that there was a decrease of over 70% in Tier III referals in a year. This is a notable trend because it shows that systems are forming that will allow students to focus on teaching, learning, and growing. In 2019-2020 the number of Tier III referrals was 151, however there was a decrease in Tier II referrals (Due to the COVID-19 pandemic exact numbers for last year are not available). The data for the 2020-2021 school year does not feel reliable as we had consistently less students present in the school building and in classroom due COVID and the remote learning option. Current school year data would support that overall disruptive student behavior is on the decline at Fitzmorris.

Additional Trend Information:

While our trends show some increases throughout the data set presented, overall the data indicates our students are performing significanly below the district and state in achievement and growth.

Priority Performance Challenge and Associated Root Cause

Priority Performance Challenge: CMAS Math Achievement

Our CMAS trend data and 4th grade achievement data of 0% of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math indicate a need to prioritize math as a priority performance challenge. The representative data indicates that student achievement show a significant gap from where Fitzmorris was 6 to 7 years ago, and where the district and state are currently performing.