Carolyn

**School: Bayside Middle School**
 * District: Fox Point/Bayside**

**__Community Information:__** Bayside Middle School is located in Fox Point. The Village of Fox Point is a small community that consists of approximately 6,803 residents. The community of Fox Points prides itself on many things. First it is a very safe and quiet community to live in with many housing options for its residents. They also pride themselves on having two very excellent schools. The Village of Fox Point is located on the north side of Milwaukee right on Lake Michigan.

**__Mission and Goals of School:__** Bayside Middle school has multiple goals to help enrich students learning so they can become successful adults in the real world. Making sure students have 21st century skills a newer goal for the district. Recently the district has begun a partnership with Atomic Learning Inc. which provides support to teachers providing them with the skills necessary to teach students so that they can succeed in the 21st century. The entire district values keeping all classrooms safe and conducive to teaching and learning, this mission is expected to be respected and adhered to by all community members. And lastly much focus is directed towards service learning. Students participate in service projects that are directly linked to academic standards.

**__Student Demographics Table One:__** This graph represents the percentage of students with and without disabilities at Bayside Middle School. It shows that the majority of students enrolled do not have disabilities. There was a slight increase in students with disabilities in 2008-2009 school year compared to the two years before.

**__Student Demographics Table Two:__** This graph represents the percentage of students who are and are not eligible for free or reduced lunch rates. Typically 90% of students do not qualify for free or reduced lunch.

WKCE Performance Table One: The graph compares 8th grade students who are economically disadvantaged to those who are not. Using those two groups of students this graph displays how students scored on the reading section of the WKCE. The majority of students who are considered economically disadvantaged scored in the proficient range where as the majority of students who are not considered economically disadvantaged scored in advanced.

__**WKCE Performance Table Two:**__ The graph compares female and male scores on the reading section of the WKCE. It is evident that more males fell in the advanced level than female with 71% male and 56% female. But it is also evident that more females fell under advanced and proficient with 94% and males 89%. More males fell in minimal proficient than females.

**__Teacher Qualifications Table One:__** This graph represents the amount of teachers with full licenses or emergency licenses in special education and core subjects. At Bayside Middle School all teachers have a full license, this is a constant percentage throughout the years.

__**Teacher Qualifications Table Two:**__ This graph represents the level of education that the special education teachers have. Typically approximately 60% of the special education teachers had a masters degree or higher. In the last two years this percent has increased to 100%. .

**__Student Behavior Table One:__** This graph represents the percentage of students who get suspensions each year. The highest percentage occurred in school year 05-06 with 5.1% and the lowest percentage occurring in 07-08 with 0%.

__**Student Behavior Table Two:**__ This graph represents the number of incidents that lead to suspensions/expulsions. The information on the graph is broken up by race/ethnicity. The only three groups that experienced suspensions/expulsions were black, white, and combined. Students who fell under the white heading had lower numbers of incidents that lead to suspensions/expulsions than students who fell under the headings of black or combination.

__**School Profile-Data Collection Process(Phase II)**__ I am currently doing my clinical two experience in a 6th grade reading classroom. During my time there I have seen some great examples of providing reading experiences that celebrate diversity. In regards to the curriculum and instruction rubric I scored my school, my classroom in particular, culturally competent for valuing diversity. Valuing diversity is defined: the extent to which curriculum reflects diversity. One of the major assignments for the 6th grade students is to read a multi-cultural book. Right now the students are reading __The Single Shard__ which can count as their multi-cultural book or they may select a different one of their choice. After students have selected and read their multi-culture book they must complete a project about the book and the particular culture. This demonstrates the implementation of curriculum that reflects diversity. Not only does the assignment reflect diversity but it makes other cultures more present and students become more knowledgeable about the diversity that surrounds them. During my clinical experience I had the opportunity to meet with the principal. During this meeting I came prepared with some questions to discuss with him in regards to current practices and how they are being implemented in the school. Our conversation focused a lot on RTI, and gave me a real life application to this process. During this school year to start effectively implementing RTI ideals, the school has created 8 or so case studies. These particular 8 students either fell bellow or above the average norm of performance. The school is currently implementing strategies to help these students succeed and formally collecting data on the interventions. The case studies were very organized and all had goals or a purpose for the future, besides helping those 8 particular students. The goal was that if they start looking at those 8 students and their individual needs that don’t particularly qualify them for special services but yet they have needs that go beyond the typical lesson they can then document what worked and what didn’t work and begin to effectively create instruction for more students that don’t fit the “norm”. Because of this detailed RTI process I scored my clinical school between cultural precompetence and cultural competence in the fifth element Institutionalizing. My school has recognized the importance to implement strategies to close the achievement gap and create opportunities for more students to be successful in the classroom, but they are in the beginning stages of implementation and finding a model that works their school.

__**School Profile - Discussion of Findings (Phase III)**__ I saw really great things going on in my school. Surprised does not accurately describe my reaction as I discovered more and more how proactive and headed in a positive diversity celebrating direction my school was. I felt more impressed and inspired that such great things are occurring in schools. In meeting with the principal it was really neat to hear his great ideas of where he wanted to take the school. Because the school does not have a lot of diversity in the sense of race and culture a lot of the conversations of diversity focused on the differences in learning and how to make all students successful in the classroom. The principal was really aware of the schools culture and had great ideas on how to grow and move the school in a continual positive direction. This school would be a great place to be a beginning teacher. The culture is very positive and supportive. As a beginning teacher I feel that I would have great support to help shape and continue my growth as an educator that values diversity, and celebrates the individual. This school operates on many of the ideas that I have learned in my undergraduate program which have shaped me. The principal and teachers I have worked with are very reflective. Based on the goal to implement best practices that allow all learners to have success, constant assessment of what is working and what needs to be modified is taking place. I really value reflection and believe I can always improve. This belief is certainly a part of the culture and I would definitely contribute to this attitude.