Colorado's Unified Improvement Plan for Schools

Knowledge Quest Academy UIP 2024-25

      
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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
  • Reading K-8 Goal
    		•
  • We need to make vocabulary a focus as a next step in our reading achievement.
    		•
  • Reading Goal for grades K-8
    		•
  • Math Grades K-8 Goal
    		•
  • Students are scoring lower in the data and statistics portion of math,
    		•
  • Math Goal for Grades K-8
    		•


    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


    Knowledge Quest Academy provides innovative teaching of comprehensive and relevant curriculum to support the mastery of skills necessary for academic success. Additionally, there is a commitment to teaching and implementing a code of ethics that promotes responsible citizenship.

    Our school is very data driven and employs a full time Data Interventionist to not only direct our resources for individual student learning, but also provides teachers with data reports to inform instruction within the classroom. We employ six AmeriCorps tutors for early childhood, reading, and math to provide additional support for our students. 

    Our staff is collegial, professional, and dedicated to the learning process for our students.We believe in involving our parents in the learning process and provide them
    with an open opportunity to participate in their child's learning.

    The staff of Knowledge Quest Academy (KQA) is committed to the daily application and reinforcement of the pillars of character. These nine pillars are emphasized throughout the curriculum and also through special activities and projects. They are as follows:
    Responsibility
    Respect
    Cooperation
    Family
    Integrity
    Love of country
    Perseverance
    Volunteerism
    Self-control

    Improvement Plan Information

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


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    Narrative on Data Analysis and Root Cause Identification


    Description of School Setting and Process for Data Analysis

    Data from local and state testing provides the information from which the analysis for the UIP is constructed. To construct the UIP, input is first analyzed by the school Administration and the Data Interventionist. Additional information is gathered from staff via reviewing grade level/class data to make recommendations. KQA utilizes its Teaching Staff, Leadership Team, Accountability Committee, Board of Directors,  and the MTSS Team to construct and review the draft of the initial UIP. The KQA Staff, Accountability Committee, and the Board of Directors also review the completed document and add any further comments. Our school is particularly focused on individual student growth and our plans include how to initiate student growth in both Academic Performance and Growth. 

    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).

    Measures / Metrics: Math Goal
    Prior Year Target: 5% Increase in Math Achievement and Math Growth
    Increase in student growth by 5% as measured by the EOY NWEA Testing and CMAS Testing. 
    NWEA Data: (Achievement) Our NWEA Math went from 55% in 2023 to 53% in 2024 for a decrease of 2%. Did not meet goal. 
    NWEA Data; (Growth) Our NWEA Math went from 55% in 2023 to 59% in 2024 for an increase of 4%. Approached goal.
    CMAS Data (Achievement) Our CMAS scores went from 38.5% in 2023 to 63.5% in 2024 for an increase of 25%. Goal met.
    CMAS Data: (Growth) Our CMAS scores  went from 46.0% in 2023 to 60.5% in 2024 for an increase of 14.5%. Goal met. 

    Measures / Metrics: Reading Goal
    Prior Year Target: 
    NWEA Data:(Achievement) Our NWEA Reading went from 52% in 2023 to 60% in 2024 for an increase of 8%. Goal met
    NWEA Data: (Growth) Our NWEA Reading went from 52% in 2023 to 59% in 2024 for an increase of 7%. Goal met. 
    CMAS Data: (Achievement) Our CMAS scores went from 41% in 2023 to 46.5% in 2024 for an increase of 5.5%. Goal met.
    CMAS Data: (Growth) Our CMAS scores went from 50.5% in 2023 to 52% in 2024 for an increase of 1.5%. Goal not met. 

    Measures/Metrics: SEL Goal
    It was difficult to measure this goal as all students received instruction and practice, but we did not conduct a formal survey at the end of the year to determine if the goal was met. Informally, we believe that we approached the goal of 85%.

    Measures / Metrics: Wellness Goal 
    Our school made great strides in this goal. The teachers offered physical fitness elements in the classroom and we also begin our day with a school-wide physical fitness activity. At each staff inservice day, we also either learned a new physical movement activity for the classroom or the staff learned and/or participated in a physical activity during our work day. The work of the committee and staff was recognized and we were awarded the America's Healthiest School designation in the areas of Implementing Local School Wellness Policy, Bolstering Physical Education and Activity, and Cultivating Staff Well-Being.
    . 






     


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

    For the 2024-2025 school year, we are fine tuning our goals into more specific measureable elements of reading and math rather than overall student achievement in those areas. We are going to limit our focus to two goals and will not be continuing the SEL and Wellness goals. Our SEL program has been changed to the "Move This World" curriculum and will be implented this year. Our Wellness initiative is in full swing and we will be hosting a wellness night and continue our work in the America's Healthiest School program. 

     

    Current Performance

    KQA:

    School Performance Framework Rating: 69.9% Performance Plan - up from 54.2% in 2023. This represents an increase of 15.7% in our SPF Rating. 
    Academic Achievement: 64% Meets  - up from 51.8% in 2023. This represents an increase of 12.2% in our Academic Achievement rating. 
    Academic Growth: 73.8% Meets - up from 55.9% in 2023. This represents an increase of 17.9% in our Academic Growth rating. 
    CMAS Results
    Our overall summary reports for Elementary and Middle School both indicate Performance level with elementary scoring at 59.5% and middle school scoring at 80.4%. (Combined academic achievement and academic growth ratings.) 

    As a K-8 Charter School, we are dividing our goals into two categories: K-8 Reading Goals and Grades K-8 Math Goals.




     

    Trend Analysis

    Trend Direction: Increasing
    Performance Indicator Target: Academic Growth

    One of the difficult predictors of our school is in being a small school with less than 47 students per grade level. State testing subgroup population information is often below the reportable level due to our small size. While we can chart student achievement and growth, we will be relying on NWEA data and the Data Dashboard to give us the more specific information that we need to evaluate student data effectively.

    Additional Trend Information:


     

    Priority Performance Challenge and Associated Root Cause

    Priority Performance Challenge:  Reading K-8 Goal

    Our CMAS ELA scores reflected a upward trend from our previous years. Overall, our reading scores increased and we are finding that the root cause is addition of specific tier 2 and tier 3 support for literacy and we are becoming much more data focused to determine student needs. Our goal as a school is improving our achievement in the vocabulary sections of NWEA and CMAS. Many of our staff across all of our grade levels completed the READ Act training and identified that vocabulary acquisition is a great place for us to put effort into for our readers. Our teachers have had individual conferences with our Data Interventionist and our Instructional Coach to better understand the needs of the students and to provide support with effective teaching strategies. We have a reading and math specialist to each of our kindergarten rooms to provide one-on-one instruction and progress monitoring to assure the students are maving forward with numeracy. We have two AmeriCorp tutors that work with our grades 1-3 students in small groups to support reading growth.

    Area of Focus: English/Language Arts growth


    Root Cause: We need to make vocabulary a focus as a next step in our reading achievement.

    We have been focusing on text comprehension and have made significant growth. Our next area to focus on is the intentional teaching of vocabulary. - Each teacher selected a vocabulary goal to work on this year in their professional goal setting. - Providing targeted strategies for vocab comprehension. - Providing opportunities for vocabulary development and monitor achievement. - Using vocabulary words in day to day instruction.

    Root Cause Category: Instruction


    Priority Performance Challenge:  Math Grades K-8 Goal

    Overall, our math scores increased and we are finding that the root cause is the addition of tier 2 and tier 3 support as well as training for curriculum implementation. Our goal is to continue to identify specific needs by grade level and provide support to achieve foundational skills. Our teachers have had individual conferences with our Data Interventionist and our Instructional Coach to better understand the needs of the students and to provide support with effective teaching strategies. We have a reading and math specialist to each of our kindergarten rooms to provide one-on-one instruction and progress monitoring to assure the students are maving forward with numeracy. We have two AmeriCorp tutors that work with our grades 4-8 students in small groups to support math growth.

    Area of Focus: Math growth


    Root Cause: Students are scoring lower in the data and statistics portion of math,

    Our students need specific math focus on the use and application of data and statistics. Current scores in this sub catagory range from 30-40%. By grade level, the focus would be on the relevant standards and the essential questions (inquiry questions) to practice and master data and statistical math problems.

    Root Cause Category: Instruction

    Why were these challenges selected and what is the magnitude of the overall performance challenges:

    Our school has put considerable time and resources into deciding our goals for this year. We recognize that we need to increase the opportunities for our students and our school communities in two different areas. 

    Although a formal writing goal will not be a part of our UIP goals for the 2024-2025 school year, writing is still considered critical to all areas of learning. While we are very familiar with the Common Core standards for each grade level and certainly design instruction around those standards, we have discovered that there could be an added benefit to better documentation and assessment of writing to insure students individually progress from year to year in the writing ability.Therefore we are focusing on the skills and instruction around written language across all content areas, but not a specific UIP goal as the ability to collect data is limited by our testing abilities/results from this previous school year. 
     

    How were the Root Causes were selected and verified:

    Initially, these priorities were the result of state or local testing data. These areas were identified by observation and data collection. We believe these are worthy root causes to address as their successful completion will gain a wider scope of practice and increase student achievement. The staff also participated in individual data conferences with our Data Interventionist and our Instructional Coach to  pinpoint the specific goals for each grade level within these broader goals. Additional staff has also been hired to address more individualized learning needs as well as accelerating learning. 

     

    Action and Progress Monitoring Plans

    Major Improvement Strategy and Action Plan

    > >

    Reading Goal for grades K-8

    What will success look like:

    		We will increase our grades 3-8 CMAS overall vocabulary subscore percentage by 3%. We will increase our NWEA overall K-8 vocabulary subscore percentage by 3%. We will increase our CMAS growth percentage in 3-8 overall reading by 3%.

    Describe the research/evidence base supporting the strategy:

    		We know that the only way to close the gap in achievement is to promote student growth. Therefore, we are employing a data driven approach at the student level to provide targeted instruction and support for our students. We understand the impact that a strong year of growth can have on the future achievement levels of our students. Our goals is to utilize a variety or strategies and supports to provide a more individualized and targeted approach to learning.

    Strategy Category:

    		Data Analysis & Reflection Practices

    Associated Root Causes:

    We need to make vocabulary a focus as a next step in our reading achievement.: We have been focusing on text comprehension and have made significant growth. Our next area to focus on is the intentional teaching of vocabulary. - Each teacher selected a vocabulary goal to work on this year in their professional goal setting. - Providing targeted strategies for vocab comprehension. - Providing opportunities for vocabulary development and monitor achievement. - Using vocabulary words in day to day instruction.

    Implementation Benchmarks Associated with Major Improvement Strategy

    Benchmark Name Description Start/End/Repeats Key Personnel Status
    Instructional Coach Hired Hire a part time Instructional Coach to assist with quality instruction and staff support. 08/01/2021

    		 Tiffany Georgeson
    Data Interventionist Hired Hire a full time data interventionist to assist with targeted instruction and the monitoring of student progress. 08/01/2021

    		 Elizabeth Eppler
    Student Interventions Students will be identified for additional support and interventions including reading intervention. math intervention. ELL support, Resource support, and executive functioning support. 08/09/2021

    		 All Staff, Andrea Hatch, Elizabeth Eppler, Patti Engel, AmeriCorps,
    AmeriCorps Designation Apply to become an AmeriCorps School for both Reading and Math. This will provide two highly trained tutors per area of reading and math. 08/16/2021

    		 AmeriCorps, Elizabeth Eppler, Linda Spreitzer
    Data Collection Staff will collect data based on Fall 2021 testing and use the information to inform their instruction. 09/17/2021

    		 All KQA Teachers
    Intervention Block Schedule The daily schedule for grades K-8 include an Intervention Blovk where students can receive intervention without missing direct instruction in their classroom. Students may see reading specialists, math specialists, ELL specialists, and/or receive targeted instruction in areas of need in math and literacy. 08/14/2023

    Weekly     		All teaching staff, interventionists, tutors, and specialists.
    Data Conferences Held Individual teacher meets with the Data Interventionist and Instructional Coach to review student data, identify goals, and plan for targeted instruction for all students. 09/20/2023
    09/21/2023
    		 Data Interventionist, Instructional Coach, Teaching Staff
    Monthly Follow Up Follow up meetings each month to review data and plan for instruction 10/04/2023
    05/23/2024
    Monthly     		All teaching staff, interventionists, tutors, and specialists.
    Beginning of Year Assessments BOY NWEA administered to all students 08/19/2024
    08/30/2024
    		 All teaching staff, interventionists
    Individual Teacher Data Conferences Meeting to review student data and set goals for the year in the area of vocabulary acquisition. 09/03/2024
    09/13/2024
    		 Elizabeth Eppler and Tiffany Georgeson
    Data Review Data review meetings will be held following BOY, MOY, and EOY assessments to discuss progress and lan instruction. 09/03/2024
    05/01/2025
    Quarterly     		Elizabeth Eppler, Tiffany Georgeson, all teaching staff
    Data Conferences for Math Goals Teachers will view their data regarding their students achievement on the data and statistic standards and set goals for instruction. 10/07/2024
    10/31/2024
    		 Elizabeth Eppler and Tiffany Georgeson, all teaching staff

    Action Steps Associated with Major Improvement Strategy

    Name Description Start/End Date Resource Key Personnel Status
    Beginning of Year Assessments
    		Dibels Testing for grades K-5 NWEA Testing for grades K-8 STAR Testing - targeted 08/23/2021
    		 Dibels and NWEA Assessment schedule, targeted STAR Assessment. Dan Johnson, All Teaching Staff
    Middle of Year Assessments
    		Dibels Testing for grades K-5 NWEA Testing for grades K-8 STAR Testing - targeted 12/01/2021
    12/17/2021     		Dibels and NWEA Assessment schedule, targeted STAR Assessment. Dan Johnson, All Teaching Staff
    End of Year Assessments
    		CMAS Testing Grades 3-8 Dibels Testing for grades K-5 NWEA Testing for grades K-8 STAR Testing - targeted 04/01/2022
    05/27/2022     		CMAS, Dibels and NWEA Assessment schedule, targeted STAR Assessment. Dan Johnson, All Teaching Staff
    Beginning of Year Assessments
    		Review of previous year CMAS Data, review BOY, MOY, and EOY NWEA Testing to set interventions and groups . Dibels testing for grades K-5, scheduled progress monitoring for SRD.low math students. 09/04/2023
    05/23/2024     		Dibles and NWEA Assessment schedule, targeted STAR Assessment. All reading and math teachers, resource teachers, specialists, and interventionists.
    Beginning of Year Assessments
    		Review of previous year CMAS Data, review BOY, MOY, and EOY NWEA Testing to set interventions and groups . Dibels testing for grades K-5, scheduled progress monitoring for SRD.low math students. 09/03/2024
    09/30/2024     		CMAS, Dibels, and NWEA Assessment schedule, targeted STAR Assessment. Elizabeth Eppler, Tiffany Georgeson, all teaching staff
    BOY,MOY, EOY Data Discussions
    		Staff will meet with the Data Interventionist and Instructional Coach to discuss progress on the UIP goals, Data will be used to further define next steps and interventions. 09/03/2024
    05/01/2025     		Data collection, student samples, focused discussion groups during staff development Leadership team, Elizabeth Eppler, Tiffany Georgeson
    > >

    Math Goal for Grades K-8

    What will success look like:

    		We will increase our NWEA data and statistics K-8 overall subscore percentages by 3%. We will increase our 3-8 overall CMAS math growth score by 3%.

    Describe the research/evidence base supporting the strategy:

    		We know that the only way to close the gap in achievement is to promote student growth. Therefore, we are employing a data driven approach at the student level to provide targeted instruction and support for our students. We understand the impact that a strong year of growth can have on the future achievement levels of our students. Our goals is to utilize a variety or strategies and supports to provide a more individualized and targeted approach to learning.

    Strategy Category:

    		Data-Informed Instruction

    Associated Root Causes:

    Students are scoring lower in the data and statistics portion of math,: Our students need specific math focus on the use and application of data and statistics. Current scores in this sub catagory range from 30-40%. By grade level, the focus would be on the relevant standards and the essential questions (inquiry questions) to practice and master data and statistical math problems.

    Implementation Benchmarks Associated with Major Improvement Strategy

    Benchmark Name Description Start/End/Repeats Key Personnel Status
    Instructional Coach Hire a part time Instructional Coach to assist with quality instruction and staff support. 08/01/2021

    		 Tiffany Georgeson
    Data Interventionist Data Interventionist Hired Hire a full time data interventionist to assist with targeted instruction and the monitoring of student progress. 08/01/2021

    		 Elizabeth Eppler, Data Interventionist
    Student Interventions Students will be identified for additional support and interventions including reading intervention. math intervention. ELL support, Resource support, and executive functioning support. 08/01/2021

    		 All Staff, Andrea Hatch, Elizabeth Eppler, Patti Engel, AmeriCorps,
    AmeriCorps Designation Apply to become an AmeriCorps School for both Reading and Math. This will provide two highly trained tutors per area of reading and math. 8/16/2021 08/16/2021

    		 AmeriCorps Personnel, Elizabeth Eppler, Linda Spreitzer
    Data Collection Staff will collect data based on Fall 2021 testing and use the information to inform their instruction. 9/17/2021 09/17/2021

    		 All KQA Teaching Sraff

    Action Steps Associated with Major Improvement Strategy

    Name Description Start/End Date Resource Key Personnel Status

    Progress Monitoring: Student Target Setting

    Priority Performance Challenge : Reading K-8 Goal

    Performance Indicator:

    		 Academic Growth

    Measures / Metrics:

    		 R
    ANNUAL
    PERFORMANCE
    TARGETS
    2024-2025: Increase of 3% in the overall Reading growth scores on CMAS.
    2025-2026: Increase of 2% in the overall Reading growth scores on CMAS.

    INTERIM MEASURES FOR 2024-2025:

    		 NWEA measures will be used for the BOY, MOY, and EOY data.

    Priority Performance Challenge : Math Grades K-8 Goal

    Performance Indicator:

    		 Academic Growth

    Measures / Metrics:

    		 M
    ANNUAL
    PERFORMANCE
    TARGETS
    2024-2025: Increase of 3% in the overall Math growth scores on CMAS.
    2025-2026: Increase of 2% in the overall Math growth scores on CMAS.

    INTERIM MEASURES FOR 2024-2025:

    		 NWEA measures will be used for the BOY, MOY, and EOY data.

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