EDC+503+Su13+-+Sullivan+Elementary+School

Dr. M.H Sullivan Elementary School  Yizhe Huang
 * 435 Broadway , Newport, RI 02840
 * Phone: (401) 847-2023
 * District: Newport
 * Public school • Grades K-4
 * 265 students

Introduction

Dr. M. H. Sullivan School is one of six elementary schools for the city of Newport, Rhode Island which is a public school that serves 265 students in grades K-4. It is part of the Newport Public School District. Dr. M.H Sullivan Elementary school has many positive and negative aspects when it is being judge. Also, many factors contribute to a child's success including, demographics, the achievement of the students and teachers, family, and home life, the safety of the schools, and the funding and resources provided to the schools. Without the success of these areas, the success of the child's schooling suffers. (“RISchools - Dr. M.H. Sullivan ES,”2013) An Early Childhood program and two full day Kindergarten classes are housed at Sullivan School. Due to lack of funding, there are not sufficient special teachers and nurses to take care of kindergarten kids, in 2011-12, grade PK were dropped. (SALT, 2001) The diversity of the staff mirrors the student population. Cultural differences are valued and respected. The staff and teachers are cared about student’s emotional and social needs. Sullivan School reaches out to children and adults by providing an array of services for all through the Family Center and other site based agency programs However, teachers are not requiring students to bring a sufficient amount of work to standards level. We can tell this from students AYP and NECAP scores, which are far below the state average. However, if the school make several changes, such as teachers participate in standards based instruction training, assure that all teachers implement the district mathematics program when selected, and use working portfolios for planning instruction, Dr. M. H. Sullivan School can make great progress and do better than before. (SALT, 2001)

Mission and Demographics The mission of the Dr. Michael H. Sullivan School is to provide and foster a nurturing and motivating learning environment where each child is encouraged to develop his/her potential, to become a lifelong learner, to respect and appreciate all diversities, and become a productive citizen (“Mission / Sullivan School Mission,” 2013). The gender demographics are pretty even however when looking at the race demographics, but it is pretty spread out between different races. In the state of Rhode Island, 73.4% of kids are white, while only 36.1% in Dr. M.H. Sullivan School are white. The rest of the demographics include African American (33.3% in Newport and 9.1% in Rhode Island), Asian (0% in Newport and 4% in Rhode Island), and people with more than one race (50% in Newport and 17.4% in Rhode Island). To sum up, this can be considered a more diverse student body (education.com, 2013) .This school is a community-centered school that strived to meet the varied need of the student.(SALT, 2001). 

Poverty

For Dr. M.H. Sullivan School, most of its students may come from a low-income family and they need extra financial support. It has to highest the rate of suspensions, and the largest percentage of children who qualify for subsidized lunch. According to Infoworks, in the whole district, only 15% of students received Special Education, and subsidized lunch increased to 46%; and the number of students receiving ESL increased to 6%. For this school, 24% of these students were in Special Education classes; 7% were limited English proficient (LEP) students, and 89% received free or reduced-price lunch. (Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013).

Health and safety

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Students in this school don’t feel they are in a safe environment and they are more likely to be robbed and bullied at school and they feel less been treated equally for breaking the same rule compared with the state average. According to Survey Works, students in Dr. M.H Sullivan are more likely to be bullied than the average school (48.6% in this school and 42.6% in the state wide). The student survey also reports that students are more likely to be bullied because of their race, religion, or a learning disability at Dr. M.H Sullivan. The SALT report commented on this by saying that diversity was an issue that needed to be addressed because some students who were ethnically, socio-economically, and academically diverse mentioned that they felt unequally treated. (SALT, 2001) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">For elementary students, they should have nothing to do with violence, alcohol and drug. Unfortunately, drugs, alcohol, and smoking, surprisingly affects Dr. M.H Sullivan students. 10.3% of the students said they consumed alcohol without their parents’ permission (3.1% in 2009 and 4% in the entire state) and 12.8% said they smoked tobacco which is more than 6 times the amount of the statewide statistic which is only 2.4% ((Rhode Island Department of Education, 2013).  Student Achievement  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">The grades the students attained were low above proficiency. According to the "InfoWorks " website, Dr. M. H. Sullivan Elementary School, is lower than that of the state of Rhode Island, which is a disappointing fact. Students attending Dr. M.H Sullivan have seriously below average scores on NECAP. The adequate yearly progress (AYP) Report found that Dr. M.H Sullivan is currently at a priority level according to the accountability summary and Classification report for the 2012-13 school year. (InfoWorks,2011 <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">） <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Accountability Summary <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">The Accountability Summary shows that Dr. M. H. Sullivan Elementary School is classified as ‘priority’. Dr. M. H. Sullivan receives a total Composite Index Score of 35.7(out of 100), which is far below the district rating of 50.0 and the state rating of 48.0 in 2012-2013(InfoWorks, 2013). But in year 2011-2012, Dr. M. H. Sullivan receives a total Composite Index Score of 25, so we can see this school make efforts in improving its accountability. (InfoWorks, 2012) <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">AYP Report Card <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">According to the AYP Summary Report in 2010-2011, Dr. M. H. Sullivan met AYP requirements. Economically disadvantaged students <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">p <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;"> has fallen short of the target but has made sufficient progress in both English language arts and mathematics (InfoWorks, 2011). <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">NECAP Assessments <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">The NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program) Assessments in 2011-2012 show that the average level of Dr. M. H. Sullivan is much lower than the statewide level in all of areas, especially in 3rd grade math (18% vs. 60% of the state average) and 4th grade science (20% vs. 45% of the state average).In 3rd grade reading, 4th grade math and 4th grade reading, Dr. M. H. Sullivan remains below the state average (InfoWorks, 2011). When we look back in last 5 years, Dr. M. H. Sullivan has a poor performance in all grades’ science, math and reading, but it makes progress each year. For example, in 2008, the 4th grade science is only 5% and the state average is 40%, and in 2009, it increased to 33% in this school and the state average is 44 %.( InfoWorks, 2011) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Students’ performance is also reflected on attendance rate and chronic absenteeism rate. The attendance rate of <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;"> Dr. M.H Sullivan is tiny lower than the state, being 94% while the state average is 95% (InfoWorks, 2011). The chronic absenteeism rate of this school once is much higher than the state average, for example, in 2008-2009, The chronic absenteeism rate is nearly two times higher than the state average, being 31% as compared to 16% for the state <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">.However, now the chronic absenteeism rate is in lines with the state, being 17% in 2010-2011 (InfoWorks, 2011). It may be a result of the strict attendance rules of Dr. M.H. Sullivan School stated in its handbook for students and parents.( SALT,2001 <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">）  <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Many factors many contribute to students’ poor achievements:   <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">First, students are not in quite a safe and healthy environment for learning. It may be one of a reason for students’ poor performance. Besides, the school lacks support. Lack of technological, political and financial support, students cannot do well in performance.   <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">When asked about “Do you use a computer in class?” only 18.4% of students say yes compared with 70.5% of the average of the whole state. ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">SurveyWorks,2012 <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">） <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Second, students have less chance to review and consolidate what they have learnt through homework. When asked “How many hours a day do you usually spend working on your homework on the computer?” more than half of them say “never”. ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">SurveyWorks,2012 <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">）  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Third, teachers’ teaching has a negative effect on students’ learning. According to the SALT,   <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">students predominately write on teacher-selected topics. These limited choices contribute to students’ lack of motivation to write. Many students understand the use of a rubric as a scoring tool, but only some are using it as a tool to improve their writing <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">（ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">SALT,2001 <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">） <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">.   <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">In the SurveyWorks survey, students at the Dr. M.H Sullivan and students statewide were asked if their teachers made learning fun and if their teachers made them want to learn. At the Dr. M.H Sullivan, 52.6 % said their teachers always make learning fun, 21.1 % said mostly. Statewide, 40% of students said teachers always make learning fun, 29.7% said mostly. While when answered “My teachers make me want to learn more” 48.6 % said their teachers always make me want to learn more, 8.6 % said never. Statewide, 52.6 % of students said teachers always, 5.9 % said never. ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">SurveyWorks,2012 <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">）  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Last, students have less confident in being admitted to college than other schools but teachers have more confident in their students. There is a suggestion that teacher and student should keep in touch and communicate with each other to think over the best method and curriculum for students’ development on condition that they are offered enough support and attention financially and technologically. When asked “is there a counselor at your school?” less than half of students say “yes”, while the statewide is 88.3%. No wonder at the Dr. M.H Sullivan, 82.1% of students think they will finish high school, 58.3 of students think they will go to college, and 70.0% teachers think they will go to college. Statewide, 85.6% of students think they will finish high school, 81.4 of students think they will go to college, and 62.6% teachers think they will go to college. ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">SurveyWorks,2012 <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">） <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">

Teaching

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">The ratio of teacher to students makes small size class possible. A smaller classroom means more attention a teacher can provide to each student. According to” Inforworks” website, in 2011, Dr. M. H. Sullivan School had 8 students for every full-time equivalent teacher while the Rhode Island average is 11 students per full-time equivalent teacher (InfoWorks, 2011). Teachers are all in good quality. There are no teachers with Emergency Certification in this school, neither are the “Not highly qualified teachers”. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">The staff at Sullivan School cares deeply about their students. They provide a nurturing environment that celebrates their diverse population. The teachers, staff, and school principal successfully direct their energies toward the social or emotional development of the students. While this has been effective, an equal emphasis and a unified effort have not been placed on high academic standards. This results in low academic expectations and lack of academic challenge for all learners (SALT, 2001). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">When students were asked about their teachers and their efficiency in class, there was positive feedback both at Dr. M.H Sullivan and statewide. Through interview, students noted that teachers were giving them direction, manageable class work and homework, intellectually challenging work, explanation, opportunities, and a friendly and clean classroom space. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Although some teachers are familiar with standards based learning and teaching, others have a limited understanding of how standards can be used to improve learning. As a result, expectations for student learning are consistently low. Student work is not used to plan instruction or provide for the variety of levels within the classroom. This results in the poor performance on the NECAP and the AYP. Students are often not placed at their instructional reading level, resulting in poor fluency and comprehension as evidenced by low performance on the New Standards English Language Arts Reference Examination. The approach to teaching mathematics at Sullivan School is not consistent between or among grade levels. Teachers are using district quarterly performance tasks to evaluate their students’ progress but not always to inform instruction. Teachers give students few opportunities to make independent decisions regarding the application of problem solving strategies. This accounts for the poor performance on all subtest of New Standards Mathematics Reference Exam. (SALT, 2001) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">

Family

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Support from family is a priority in the success of a student. If there is no care, early education and encouragement from parents, the child will lose all motivation to succeed. Sullivan School clearly demonstrates a profound sense of dedication to the students and families of this community (SALT, 2001). This dedication is apparent in the care taken to support all students. At Dr. M.H Sullivan, although most of parents just have completed their high school (38.5%) and 0% of them finished their college with a diploma while the state is 12.2% and 32.0% respectively. Thankfully, parents at Dr. M.H Sullivan seem to be very supportive. Students responded that their parents are eager to know what their child is doing in school (91.9 % at Dr. M.H Sullivan, and 94.8% statewide). Also, 97.4% of Dr. M.H Sullivan students and 99.5% of Rhode Island students said that their parents want them to get good grades. When parents were asked, 55.6% of them strongly agree with “I know what my child is studying in his or her classes”, and 77.8% of them strongly agree with “I feel welcome at this school”. Statewide ratio is 37.2% and 49.8% respectively. Meanwhile, parents are willing to attend different types of school related events. And Dr. M.H Sullivan will involve parents in making decisions. Parents have a positive statement to this school ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">SurveyWorks, 2012) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">. We can tell parents really keen on their students’ grow up, however, since most parents haven't received higher education, they don’t concern so much on how to improve their kids’ ability to participate in the very highest academic experience possible. Due to poverty, many parents cannot afford an after-school tutoring so that their kids aren’t so competitive academically. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">The talent and resourcefulness, which has fueled this effort, must now be turned toward helping students participate in the very highest academic experience possible. Parents and the school need to improve communication and work together to build academic rigor and challenge. (SALT, 2001).

Funding and Resources <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">From the information from the school and the information from the students, it is easily figured that the kids have a strong support system but are not well off economically. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Socioeconomics affects the resources the students have and what they might need. Funding and resources play an important role in student’s achievement and school’s development. The district property value per student is $2,670 in the year of 2009. The expenditure of per pupil is $18,732. The district median family income is $54,116 (InfoWorks, 2011) .This allows for proper facilities and materials for students. Students report that they have enough books for everyone in the class; they have adequate sized desks, and a nice-looking school. All of these qualities are important in a school. They give students a place to be proud to go to and to learn (InfoWorks, 2011). Although, the building is old and in need of repair and improvement along with general housekeeping, teachers have maximized their spaces by providing bright and cheerful classrooms ( <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">SurveyWorks,2012 <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">） <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">.Besides, computers are not accessible to every student. The computer problem could possibly be because the teacher doesn't include it in their curriculum, or because school spends the fund on hardware facility rather than software facility. It’s worth noting that special education services are not being provided in the most effective and appropriate manner to support inclusion efforts, successful student transition, and academic growth. ESL support services are limited to a pull out model and frequently do not meet the needs of students. Part time school nurse or teacher is assigned to Sullivan School. This is inadequate to meet the health demands of this school (SALT, 2001). Conclusion <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Newport, RI is located on the southern portion of an island in Rhode Island, where Kids should never have to worry about going to school with the possibility of not having lunch. Newport is also a giant tourist place, therefore the area by the beach looks rather nice and upper class looking. However, there are many other parts of Newport that the tourists don't see, which the area is where the lower and middle class citizens live. This area is never really visited by tourists, causing them to think that Newport is one of the "rich" towns in Rhode Island, when in reality it is far from it. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt;">Compared to the other elementary schools in the Newport school district, students in Dr. M.H. Sullivan School are less competitive academically. There are close to 300 students in the school which is a lot more than the others as well as the lowest test scores in the district. Many factors contribute, such as diversity culture and value, socioeconomic factors and policy planning. Despite these statistics that the school has, all the other schools have about the same funding or resources as well as no teachers certified for emergency situations or high qualified. Students have a positive attitude to this school and they have confident in finish their study here. Parents have good relationship with teacher and school, and they are welcome to participate in decision-making process. Qualified teachers are keen on the entire student, have confident in their future and they are ready to help. The staff is allowing its overwhelming desire to nurture students and address their social and emotional needs to interfere with high expectations for student performance. We suggest that the school raise its expectations, focus its direction, and move forward as a unified group of capable professionals to bring its students to higher levels. Improve communication and work together to build academic rigor and challenge. With more improvement, the Dr. M.H. Sullivan School could improve much of their negative characteristics and turn to a better one.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Dr. M. H. Sullivan School: Grades, Ratings, and Reviews - Zillow School Information <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">[] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Dr. M.H. Sullivan School: The SALT Visit Team Report. Retrieved from <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Education.com's SchoolFinder gives parents and teachers free access to school information. <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 8.5pt;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">GreatSchools http://www.greatschools.org/rhode-island/newport/145-Dr.-M.-H.-Sullivan-School/ <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Rhode Island Department of Education. (2013). Inforworks! Rhode Island Education Data Reporting. //Infoworks! Rhode Island Education Data Reporting//. Retrieved from <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Rhode Island Department of Education(2011-2012). InfoWorks <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">[|http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/files/surveyworks/2011-2012/combined/surveyworks-2011-2012-dr-m-h-sullivan-school-student-parent-teacher-es.pd] <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">RISchools - Dr. M.H. Sullivan ES. (n.d.). Retrieved July 29, 2013, from http://rischools.wikispaces.com/Dr.+M.H.+Sullivan+ES
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