School Improvement Plan

Vision

The CCMC School provides a safe, stable, consistent and appropriately structured learning environment which provides emotional support and predictable organization for students while meeting their individual needs, both academically and behaviorally. We always try to maintain loyalty to each student, communication and mutual understanding with children is our priority. To solve urgent educational tasks, we, together with our permanent partners, provide the opportunity to receive same day custom essays. After all, it is important for us to better interact with teenagers through help and the development of trusting relationships. Then, in case of more significant problems or conflicts, they will be able to turn to their mentor at school without hesitation.

We believe that students of all ages can realize their potential given a positive school climate based on respect, responsibility, kindness and safety. To this end, the CCMC School promotes a culture in which:

We do second chances
We apologize
We forgive
We respect each other
We keep our promises
We never give up
We encourage one another
We laugh often
We believe
We are a Family!
-Anonymous

Mission

The goal of the CCMC School is to foster the development of independence in social, emotional, behavioral, and academic skills needed to transition students back to their home school district, the community, or to the next most appropriate setting. We ultimately aim for a less restrictive environment for all of our students.

Challenges of our Educational Practice

The students of the CCMC School present with many challenges academically and behaviorally. Most students demonstrate weaknesses in reading, written language and/or mathematics. This necessitates creative programming with differentiated and individualized instruction, as well as constant monitoring of progress. The creation of a school-wide literacy block has enabled us to better address the many students with phonetic deficits who would benefit from Wilson reading instruction.

Mathematics has always been a challenging subject for most of our students due to the need for sustained concentration, sequencing skills and the spiraling of skills that build upon each other for calculations. Students further struggle with higher order thinking skills and problem solving, particularly those students with lower cognitive functioning. Staff strive to help them make connections and apply solution-oriented strategies within all subject areas, not just math. In addition to curriculum-based assessments, progress monitoring is accomplished three times throughout the school year with a newly purchased electronic program, Star 360, designed for this purpose

Students’ academic progress is accomplished despite their challenging behaviors and wide ranges of skill development. Thus, the School’s culture must remain positive and supportive, fostering respect, responsibility, kindness and safety. This requires unlimited patience and understanding by staff each and every day.

The impact of these challenges on our educational practice has resulted in the following School Improvement goals for the 2016-2017 school year:

Instruction

Focus: Mathematics and Problem Solving

Students will improve math scores as follows:

  • 70% of students in Applied Academics classrooms will increase their math skills by at least 5 months growth as evidenced by grade equivalent scores on the Star 360 progress monitoring program.
  • 70% of students in the Emotionally Disturbed classrooms will increase math skills by at least 7 months as evidenced by grade equivalent scores on the Star 360 progress monitoring program.
  • 80% of students in Rooms 115, 136 and 210 will increase their functional math by mastering at least 3 more skills over baseline as measured by a staff developed criterion referenced assessment yielding at least 80% skill accuracy.
  • 70% of all students will demonstrate problem solving skills when engaged in chosen academic subjects, by at least 10% over baseline as assessed by pre/post criterion-referenced tools and rubrics.
  • Implement new electronic progress monitoring tool in computerized format by June 2016.

School Climate

Staff responses of “Always” to the PBIS survey question “I implement PBIS with my students: will increase from 50% (baseline) to 75%.

  • Students will more readily utilize coping strategies and display decrease in unsafe aggression as evidenced by 10% reduction in seclusion and restraint over last year’s numbers, per data collection.
  • All staff will exhibit service behaviors consistently throughout the school environment, as specified by Connecticut Children’s Medical Center standards and measured by individual evidence, observation and data.

Stakeholder Feedback

Focus: PBIS Implementation

Staff responses of “Always” to the PBIS survey question “I implement PBIS with my students” will increase from 50% (baseline) to 75%.

Professional Development

  • SEED will be fully implemented this year with all certified staff, with submission to SDE by 9/15/17.
  • Workshop presentation on The Impact of Executive Functioning Deficits on Reading.
  • Professional development in problem-solving skills will be provided to staff as warranted throughout the year.
  • An in-service workshop with subsequent professional development opportunities will address differentiated mathematics and learning strategies.
  • On-going staff training will occur as related to data collection, reporting and Positive Behaviors, Interventions and Support (PBIS).