School Improvement Plan

The summer of 2021, leading to our first year back to full time, in-person learning after the pandemic, was focused on re-engaging students in the academic setting and addressing social/emotional needs/barriers. The administration team, counseling team, and PBSES coach met with students and families in a variety of modes to ensure a smooth transition for our students, and to proactively identify Tier 2 and Tier 3 students at risk of social or emotional irregularity. This work continued throughout the year through individual counseling (averaging 160 student meetings per month, 43 referrals to our School-based Swedish Counselor, and 82 student safety plans for students reporting self-harm), small group anxiety counseling for students and a parent anxiety book study, and whole group, classroom lessons provided by the counseling team on anxiety and the brain, suicide prevention and coping skills. Student surveys indicated a decrease in anxious feelings and tendencies over the course of the 2021-2022 school year. We will continue this level of pursuing students at risk of social and/or emotional support in subsequent years.

We had anticipated a rise in internalizing behaviors, but did not expect the increase in major externalizing behaviors, and how the behaviors of a small percentage of students would impact the whole of the student population. During the 2021-22 school year, Beaver Lake Middle School saw a rise in externalizing behaviors that resulted in exclusionary discipline. This trend was not unique to just Beaver Lake MS, but was representative of the behaviors many middle schools were seeing across the district and nation. Middle school students in particular seemed to have been impacted more dramatically by the 18 months of home-based learning (i.e. only solving social problems with siblings, which typically looks more aggressive than appropriately solving problems with peers).

Trimester 1 brought students back to full-time instruction for the first time in almost two-and-a-half years, which we hypothesize resulted in larger, more severe, externalizing behaviors than in pre-COVID years. Subsequently, as students settled into the school year during trimester 2, we saw a significant decrease in exclusionary discipline instances as a result of adapting interventions at the building-level. Trimester 3 saw an increase in exclusionary discipline instances as students required more Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions for behavior. 

Trimester 1: Exclusionary Discipline Data by Federal Race Category

• White: 7 offenses by 4 students
• Black/African American: 8 offense by 4 students (* 2 of the offenses resulted in emergency expulsions and threat assessments that led to long-term suspensions)
• Native American: 0
• Asian: 1 offense by 1 student (*this offense resulted in an emergency expulsion and threat assessment that did not result in a long-term suspension
• Hispanic/Latin X: 0
• Pacific Islander: 0

Trimester 1 Analysis and Reflection: Of the 16 total offenses during trimester 1: two (2) were for possession of weapons on campus, eleven (11) for fighting, two (2) for theft of school property, and one (1) for making threats. When looking at behavior trends, this is a significant increase in offenses for fighting in the first trimester of a school year when compared to pre-pandemic behavior trends. The offenses listed above were also accounted for by multiple different students as opposed to a single student accounting for multiple offenses. There was also an increase in behaviors resulting in Tier 3 discipline (EE or LTS) in the first trimester when compared with pre-pandemic years. This data speaks to the severity of the behaviors that middle schools saw at the beginning of the school year, which decreased over time as the school year continued.

In response to the discipline data of trimester 1, the BLMS MTSS team increased the Tier 1 and Tier 2 behavior interventions for students in the form of classroom lessons in homeroom, small group meetings, social justice restorative practices, incentive charts, parent-teacher collaborative notes, etc. We refocused on our school-wide expectations of Being Accountable, Responsible, Kind and Safe (BARKS).

Trimester 2: Exclusionary Discipline Data by Federal Race Category

• White: 1 offense by 1 student
• Black/African American: 0
• Native American: 0
• Asian: 0
• Hispanic/Latin X: 0
• Pacific Islander: 0

Trimester 2 Analysis and Reflection: The single offense resulting in exclusionary discipline was for theft of school property during trimester 2. There are multiple factors that could account for the decrease in the exclusionary offenses seen during trimester 2: increased, explicit teaching of expectations for students in response to trimester 1 behaviors in the building, students re-acclimating to in-person schooling, targeted Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions for students displaying significant externalizing behaviors in trimester 1, and/or staff familiarity with the student population – building relationships, trust, etc.

Trimester 3: Exclusionary Discipline Data by Federal Race Category

Data has been modified to remove outlying data that was the result of two (2) new student enrollments in March that accounted for ten (10) of the 29 total offenses during Trimester 3

• White: 11 offenses by 9 students

• Black/African American: 4 offenses by 3 students

• Native American: 0

• Asian: 1 by 1 student

• Hispanic/Latin X: 3 offenses by 3 students

• Pacific Islander: 0

  Trimester 3 Analysis and Reflection: Of the 19 total offenses during Trimester 3: five (5) were for fighting, six (6) for inappropriate use of technology/phones, one (1) for making threats, three (3) for elopement/leaving campus, and four (4) for repeated rule violation, defiance, insubordination. Analysis of the behavior data from trimester 3 shows an increase in behaviors resulting in exclusionary discipline, specifically when looking at instances of fighting, inappropriate technology use, and elopement. However, further analysis would suggest that the types of significant behaviors exhibited during trimester from students who had been at Beaver Lake Middle school for the majority of the 21-22 school year decreased, as evidenced by the decline in Tier 3 exclusionary actions (EE & LTS) as well as the need for threat assessments. Further anecdotal data based on the types of offenses leading to exclusionary discipline would suggest that behaviors later in the year that result in exclusionary discipline are the result of progressive discipline, multiple forms of prior interventions, and opportunities for students to modify behavior.

  Although the number of Tier 3 exclusionary actions declined overall, there is still a disproportionate number of Black/African American and Hispanic/Latins students receiving exclusionary discipline. This will be addressed in the 2022-2023 SY.

Our academic goals were focused on returning to our pre-pandemic proficiency baselines. According to the 2017-2019 WISF data, 84.5% of all BLMS students met proficiency on the ELA SBA. Our goal was to improve from 73% of all students meeting standard on the fall 2021 ELA SBA to 85% of students meeting standard on the 2022 spring ELA SBA.

There is a correlation between i-Ready success and SBA scores. Since the 2021 i-Ready data suggested a growth area in Informational Text, BLMS had a second goal of improving in this area, as a support for our SBA goal. Our goal was to increase students at grade level for Informational Text from 60% to 76%.

2021-2022 Celebration

Although not a formal goal, our school team focused on student attendance and academic support when students could not attend due to illness. As seen in the data below, all of our student groups exceeded the WSIF baseline data for attendance.

REGULAR ATTENDANCE RATE

Group	2017-19 WSIF Baseline	2022 BLMS Outcomes	+/-
All Students (for comparison)	91.9%	94%	2.1%
Black / African American		87%
English Language Learners	91.3%	93%	1.7%
Hispanic/Latinx of any race	84%	91%	7.0%
Low Income	68.5%	NA
Students with Disabilities	79.2%	90%	10.8%