Katherine Brennan/Rogers School - Connecticut State Department ...

Hill Central School
School Improvement Grant – Section B: Descriptive Information
The Superintendent will hire a new Director of Instruction for Turnaround / Transformational Schools to
be assigned to Hill Central and the other three SIG schools. He/she will be responsible for evaluating the
school principal, as well as providing direct support to Hill Central to ensure successful implementation
of the SIG requirements.
There is a systematic approach to using and sharing data in the NHPS. Schools are responsible for
establishing grade level and school wide data teams. The principal and the Literacy Coach are critical to
the success of these teams and have a responsibility to report data analysis, student performance goals,
and Tier II (Adult Action) indicators to the Superintendent and his executive team. Hill Central has
received excellence assistance from the CALI initiative and through the SIG proposal they are planning to
increase the number of days for CALI professional development and leadership coaching at Brennan.
With support and direction from the Reading Supervisor, Hill Central has been provided with a set of
alternative approaches, programs and strategies for teaching reading skills to Tier II and Tier III students.
The establishment of such alternatives comes from the data that suggests such a need. The Hill Central
Redesign Team will continue to investigate other approaches that might better meet the differentiated
learning needs. As part of SIG, Hill Central will undergo an audit of special education and ELL programs
to develop more strategic plans for meeting the needs of diverse learners.
Increased learning time is important in providing students additional opportunities to learn and refine their
skills. With support from the new Director of Instruction for Turnaround / Transformational Schools, the
Redesign Team will develop a matrix of all programs and services at Hill Central, inclusive of extended
day programs, to create a new model that is comprehensive, does not duplicate efforts, and is honed in to
providing targeted, increased learning time for all students. In addition, we believe that through our SIOP
instructional planning model, we will inevitably streamline lessons to provide for more effective teaching
and thereby increase learning time. The Hill Central Redesign Team will work over the summer and
throughout the school year to determine how it will best provide additional opportunities for learning.
There are promotional opportunities for Lead Teachers and grade level Teacher Leaders. A co-teacher
model will be put into place at the lower grade levels and opportunities for Master Teachers to train under
the new SCDE TEAM program will be made available. Other financial and/or resource incentives will be
developed by the school’s Redesign Team over the summer and throughout the school year. Such
incentives could include conferences, professional journals, classroom materials, etc.
Hill Central staff will continue their training in the School Wide Positive Behavioral Intervention and
Support (PBIS) program for improving student behavior through a systematic, sequential approach. SIG
will enable Brennan to continue school wide professional development with greater fidelity to the
implementation of this program.
There will be increased efforts to increase parental engagement at Hill Central. A Parent Liaison will be
hired to work with the Hill Central Redesign Team to develop plans for improving service to parents
(workshops, seminars, parent magazines, boos for home libraries, tutoring opportunities, etc.). There will
be a focus on providing parents with the skills they need to be educational partners on the home front as
they work with staff to extend student learning.
The ACES leadership and data development plan, SIOP professional development for
improving planning, instruction and language learning, and the continuation of interdisciplinary
unit development as part of the Accelerated School Model, we are confident in our plan for
ensuring a systematic transition into a high performing learning school model, as well as assist in
building the foundation for sustainability. The consultation team will provide targeted, individualized