Panther Progress Daviess County High School’s Plan for Academic Excellence

Our Goal The Kentucky Department of Education has set a goal for every school in the state. That goal is to reach an overall CATS score of 100 by the year Every two years, each school must show progress toward that goal.

What is an Achievement Gap? According to Kentucky law, an “achievement gap” is a substantive performance difference on the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System tests between two groups of students taking the same test. An example of an achievement gap would be if: All freshmen girls All freshmen boys average a score of 90 while average a score of 80 on a science test on the same test.

Significant CATS Achievement Gaps at DCHS Students on Free or Reduced Lunch score lower than other students in: Reading Math Science Social Studies Special Education Students score lower than other students in: ReadingMath Science Social Studies Arts/Humanities Practical Living/ Vocational Studies

The Reading Gap

The Panther Plan of Attack for the READING GAP ACTION 1 – Fully implement the Read 180 program for all special education students in resource and EBD unit classes. ( ) ACTION 2 – Increase the use of coach materials, annotated open response, etc. ( ) ACTION 3 – Begin the CATS Plan of Attack, which asks teachers to provide examples of their CATS review material. ( ) ACTION 4 – During CATS testing window, students will answer fewer questions each testing day. Students will also test in their advocate groups. (2005) ACTION 5 – Continue MAP testing of students on an on-going basis and seriously use results of this test to target weaknesses. (2005 and 2006)

The Math Gap

The Panther Plan of Attack for the MATH GAP ACTION 1 – Conduct math CATS scrimmages and use results to determine strengths and weaknesses. (ongoing through 2006) ACTION 2 – Divide CATS math test into multiple days to lessen the amount of work required per day. (2005 and 2006) ACTION 3 – Pull out students from regular group to take the CTBS test. (2005 and 2006) ACTION 4 – Frequent use of the student data tool to analyze individual student test scores. Use past test score patterns to guide current curriculum. (ongoing through 2006)

ACTION 5 – Recognizing/motivating students to perform better on the CATS test. ( ) ACTION 6 – Extend geometry to a year-long class. ( ) ACTION 7 – Extend selected topics to year-long class (or have students take it in the spring). (2006 possibly) ACTION 8 – Use daily oral math to relate previously-learned core content as a means of review. (ongoing) ACTION 9 – Separate EBD students from resource students during CATS test. ( ) ACTION 10 – Continue MAP testing of student on an on-going basis and seriously use results of this test to target weaknesses. (2005 and 2006)

The Science Gap

The Panther Plan of Attack for the SCIENCE GAP ACTION 1 – Focused work on Science vocabulary integration within resource classes. ( ) ACTION 2 – Intentioned and embedded practice using open response annotated items within resource classes. ( ) ACTION 3 – More lab experiences offered within resource environment. ( ) ACTION 4 – Begin the CATS Plan of Attack, which asks teachers to provide examples of their CATS review material. ( ) ACTION 5 – During CATS testing window, students will answer fewer questions each testing day. Students will also test in their advocate groups. (2005) ACTION 6 – Continue MAP testing of students on an on-going basis and seriously use results of this test to target weaknesses. (2005 and 2006)

The Arts/Humanities Gap

The Panther Plan of Attack for the ARTS/HUMANITIES GAP ACTION 1 – Continuation of carousel method of teaching arts/humanities collaboration courses. ( ) ACTION 2 – Collaboration effort with A/H teachers to incorporate useful strategies within resource environments. ( ) ACTION 3 – Intentioned use of important vocabulary terms within resource environment. ( ) ACTION 4 – During CATS testing window, students will answer fewer questions each testing day. Students will also test in their advocate groups. (2005) ACTION 5 – Begin the CATS Plan of Attack, which asks teachers to provide examples of their CATS review material. ( ) ACTION 6 – Continue MAP testing of students on an on-going basis and seriously use results of this test to target weaknesses. (2005 and 2006)

The Practical Living/Vocational Studies Gap

The Panther Plan of Attack for the Practical Living/Vocational Studies GAP ACTION 1 – PL/VS audit within special education required courses to integrate core content. ( ) ACTION 2 – PL/VS core content coverage in computer applications (yearly audit). ( ) ACTION 3 – Begin the CATS Plan of Attack, which asks teachers to provide examples of their CATS review material. ( ) ACTION 4 – During CATS testing window, students will answer fewer questions each testing day. Students will also test in their advocate groups. (2005) ACTION 5 – Continue MAP testing of students on an on-going basis and seriously use results of this test to target weaknesses. (2005 and 2006)