Strategic School Profile 2006 - 2007

Ledyard Middle School
Ledyard School District

SCHOOL NEED

STUDENT RACE/ETHNICITY

EFFORTS TO REDUCE RACIAL, ETHNIC, AND ECONOMIC ISOLATION
Below is the description submitted by this school of how it provides educational opportunities for its students to interact with students and teachers from diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds.

Ledyard Middle School provides a variety of educational opportunities for its students to interact with and learn about others from diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. Our "Mix It Up" day is designed to have students express their identities in atypical ways and to interact with students other than those in their "crowd". Students are highly involved in the Civil Rights Club and the International Club, each designed to reduce the myths and misconceptions students hold about racial groups and cultures other than their own. The Amistad Club program is designed to promote appreciation for the cultural diversity in our school and neighboring districts. The Young Educators Club is a regional program that has a multicultural orientation; it helps to develop skills to make members effective teachers and to encourage education beyond high school. Project Adventure Climbing Club and brings together a diverse population of students to problem solve collaboratively. Bullying and bias awareness have been the focus of ample professional development activities for teachers and student assemblies and other discussion. Many class projects deal with countries, cultures, ethnicities, aboriginal peoples, and gender issues from around the world.

SCHOOL RESOURCES

*State law requires at least 900 hours for grades 1 through 12.

TECHNOLOGY

This school does not have a functional satellite link.

LIBRARY MATERIALS
Free on-line access to periodicals, newspapers, and other resources is available to all Connecticut schools through the Connecticut Digital Library.

*Because a certain number of volumes are needed for a library of adequate breadth and depth, a small school may need a higher number of volumes per student.

STAFFING RESOURCES

SCHOOL PROCESSES

E indicates elective, I indicates integrated courses.

HOME AND SCHOOL COMMUNICATION AND SUPPORT
The following narrative was submitted by this school.

Ledyard Middle School is committed to assisting parents in their attempts to assist their children in all aspects of their education. Parents are invited to volunteer in our classrooms and social events, and they choose to join us in substantial numbers. The Parent-Teacher Connection (PTC) meets regularly to discuss how we can collaborate toward helping the school achieve its mission. Nearly fifty parents volunteered, for example, for only eight openings on our eighth grade educational fieldtrip to Gettysburg. Similar ratios exist for most of our chaperone requests. We daily see parents participating by monitoring our cafeteria, mentoring our students, providing after school academic support and enrichment and participating in discussions with school and central office staff on school improvement options.

Communication in the area of student progress has improved significantly. Many of our teachers have moved to posting homework on team websites and regular electronic "progress reports". Conferences are held frequently with parents of struggling students, and those parents are integral in the discussion of intervention plans. Parent newsletters are mailed home six to ten times per year. We are careful to provide interpreters for parents who struggle with English. LMS prepared for the switch to a more parent friendly and accessible student data system (Power School) which will go into effect in August of 2007.

STUDENT PERFORMANCE

Connecticut Mastery Test, Fourth Generation, % Meeting State Goal: The Goal level is more demanding than the state Proficient level, but not as high as the Advanced level, reported in the No Child Left Behind Report Cards.

These results reflect the performance of students with scoreable tests who were enrolled in the district at the time of testing, regardless of the length of time they were enrolled in the district. Results for fewer than 20 students are not presented.

For more detailed CMT results, go to www.ctreports.com. To see the NCLB Report Card for this school, go to www.sde.ct.gov and click on "No Child Left Behind".

SCHOOL IMPOVEMENT PLANS AND ACTIVITIES
The following narrative was submitted by this school.

Ledyard Middle School chose, as its primary focus for school improvement, to address the reading skills of all students in general and our less capable readers in particular. This year saw the beginning of school wide professional development in reading strategies and significant structural change in the nature of our course offerings in order to increase opportunities for reading instruction. Teachers of language arts, social studies, and special education participated in multiple two-hour training sessions; this training will be continued for other departments in the coming year. We introduced collaboratively taught (regular and special education teachers) language arts classes and expanded our programming to improve the reading comprehension of our most needy students. Combined with our "literacy" program, this resulted in substantial gains in our CMT scores. By developing curriculum aimed at students with at least a two-year deficiency in comprehension, we saw average growth of over one year in a year's time. Some students gained as much as four years during grades seven and eight as measured by the DRA. Prior to the start of this program, parents were involved in discussions regarding placement and schedule changes.

SUPPLEMENTAL SCHOOL INFORMATION
The space below was optionally used by this school to describe aspects of the school not presented elsewhere in the profile.

Ledyard Middle School considers all aspects of an adolescent's development essential to growth and happiness. "RISE", our shortcut to philosophical discussions with our students and parents, emphasizes and regularly honors at large group assemblies the qualities of resilience, integrity, scholarship, and a willingness to explore. Our weekly "T-4" (Teens and Teachers Talking Together), provides 30 minutes for students to connect to their peers and a faculty member in small group settings. Discussion topics include a wide range of issues important to adolescents. Peer mediators are trained and employed to help resolve disputes among students and to pass on the skills of conflict resolution. We encourage parent involvement through our Open House and scheduled parent conferences, through our active volunteer program and Parent-Teacher Connection, and through our parent newsletters and honors assemblies. We hold Transition Nights and Orientation for new parents and students. A group of students meets monthly for lunch with our Principal and district Superintendent, with whom they discuss topics they can bring to the table. LMS is involved in a highly beneficial school-business collaborative with Pfizer Corporation, which results in improved technology and expert assistance for our students. Our grade 7 science students participate in Project Oceanology at Avery Point nine days per year. Also, there are many after-school activities for students, ranging from interscholastic athletics and intramurals to drama and chess clubs.