School Improvement & Innovation/ESSER III Plan At A Glance

2022-2023 | Key Middle School | Fairfax County Public Schools | Region 3 | Dr. Aimee Holleb, Principal

Background: The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) is a federal grant which requires that spending be used in specific areas.  Part of the Fairfax County Public Schools spending plan identifies funding to be used for Unfinished Learning and Student Academic and Social, Emotional, Mental Health (Wellness) Needs.  Schools have been given funding allocations to support the academic and wellness needs of students.  Schools are required to create plans in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Wellness highlighting the strategies they will use to support these areas using their ESSER III funding.  These strategies are shown below.

ESSER III English Language Arts Strategies

Outcome: Ensure students are making sufficient progress to be on grade level in English Language Arts.

Goal: 

1. By June 2023, increase our adjusted pass rate from an 82% to an 85%.
2. By June 2023, decrease the failure rate by 10% for our students with disabilities, and English Learners.

Strategy 1

Tier 1: Disciplinary literacy strategies, intentional planning for differentiation, and on-going reflection aligned to the CT Cycle.

Strategy 2

Tier 2: Utilize small group time and dedicated learning seminar classes to offer remediation and support for pre-requisite skills.

Strategy 3

Tier 3: Intensive remediation in universal skill of reading comprehension, decoding, fluency, phonics, etc.

Strategy 4

AVID: Continue to develop a deeply-embedded culture of AVID to support Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading.

ESSER III Mathematics Strategies

Outcome: Ensure students are making sufficient progress to be on grade level in Mathematics.

Goal:

1. By June 2023 we will increase our overall adjusted pass rate from an 80% to 85%.
2. By June 2023 we will decrease the failure rate for students with disabilities and English Language Learners by 10%

Strategy 1

Tier 1: Supporting strong Tier 1 instruction with vertical and horizontal articulation across the grades, continuing to strengthen our use of engagement/workshop model (grouping students based on need), and we will focus on learning by continually reviewing classroom data and providing students with thinking tasks that involve critical thinking. Additionally, we will have smaller class sizes in grade-level math classes.

Strategy 2

Tier 2: Utilize small group time and dedicated advisory classes to offer remediation and support for pre-requisite skills.

Strategy 3

Tier 3: We will continue to offer ARI, Power Math, and specialized advisory groups for intensive remediation.

Strategy 4

 Increasing enrollment in Algebra by 8th Grade through participation in the Algebra Access Network Improvement Community.

ESSER III Wellness Strategies

Outcome: Ensure students feel safe, included, and supported in the school environment.

Goal: 

1. By June 2023, increase our students' sense of belonging by 20% as measured by the SEL Screener.
2. By June 2023, increase our student's response to making responsible decisions by 10% as measured on the SEL screener.

Strategy 1

Tier 1: Enhance current and create new opportunities for students to engage in and be a part of our school and school community including afterschool programming.

Strategy 2

Tier 1: Recognize students for positive contributions to our school and school community.

Strategy 3

Tier 1: Provide teachers with resources and training to develop and refine skills that foster a sense of belonging in their classrooms and the school.

Strategy 4

Tiers 2 and 3: Provide targeted support to address student needs and special populations

Portrait of a Graduate (POG)

Outcome: All students will complete a POG Presentation of Learning (POL) by 2025-26.

Goal: 100% of staff will ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with the following statements, as identified through an end-of-year survey:

1. I know what Portrait of a Graduate is.
2. I have provided opportunities for students to develop POG skills in my class/content.
3. I can explain how POG supports my units of study.
4. I can explain POG to students and parents.

Strategy 1

Building alignment between IB MYP components and Portrait of a Graduate with teacher leaders.

Strategy 2

Supporting CTs in intentionally planning for POG/ATL in each unit.

Strategy 3

Students will engage with the goal-setting process and reflect as learners.

OTHER End of Year SMARTR Outcome:

Goal:

By June 2023, we will increase our Science 8 SOL adjusted pass rate from 51% to 70%

Strategy 1

Tier 1: Disciplinary literacy strategies, intentional planning for differentiation, and on-going reflection aligned to the CT Cycle.

Strategy 2

Tier 2: Utilize small group time and dedicated learning seminar classes to offer remediation and support for pre-requisite skills.

Strategy 3

Intentionally planning for learning experiences to support building and activating background knowledge.