Every child can learn and succeed.

Students learn in different ways and at different rates; therefore, all students should be held to high standards with flexibility in the time to achieve them.

Our school should be safe, welcoming environments that support learning.

An ethical school system requires fair treatment, honesty, openness,integrity, and respect.

A high quality school system strives to be responsive and accountable to students and to the community.

Walton Elementary/Middle School will conduct an annual WESTEST and Writing Assessment data analysis before students return to school and develop the appropriate interventions for each student.  Also, teachers will conduct data analysis throughout the school year on specific assessment tools (i.e. DIBELS, IKNOW, Compass Learning, Skills Tutor ...).

Parents will be invited to attend workshops on a variety of topics during the school year. Parent workshops range from phonemic awareness to middle school success.  The Title I staff at WEMS feels a responsibility in educating families.  Therefore, a grandparent's Day Celebration has been included in the program.  All students and staff give grandparents special recognition on this day.  A Mom's Thanksgiving Luncheon and a Dad's Christmas Luncheon will also take place.  These events draw large numbers of parents and give Title I the opportunity to provide them with the tools that they can use to better their child's education.

Finally, high-yield instructional strategies for reading and mathematics are listed in the Title I part of this plan. 

Walton Elementary/Middle School will conduct an annual WESTEST and Writing Assessment data analysis before students return to school and develop the appropriate interventions for each student. Also, teachers will conduct data analysis throughout the school year on specific assessment tools (i.e. DIBELS, IKNOW, Compass Learning, Skills Tutor ...).

Parents will be invited to attend workshops on a variety of topics during the school year. Parent workshops range from phonemic awareness to middle school success. The Title I staff at WEMS feels a responsibility in educating families. Therefore, a grandparent's Day Celebration has been included in the program. All students and staff give grandparents special recognition on this day. A Mom's Thanksgiving Luncheon and a Dad's Christmas Luncheon will also take place. These events draw large numbers of parents and give Title I the opportunity to provide them with the tools that they can use to better their child's education.

Finally, high-yield instructional strategies for reading and mathematics are listed in the Title I part of this plan.

Walton Elementary/Middle School will conduct an annual WESTEST and Writing Assessment data analysis before students return to school and develop the appropriate interventions for each student. Also, teachers will conduct data analysis throughout the school year on specific assessment tools (i.e. DIBELS, IKNOW, Compass Learning, Skills Tutor ...).

WEMS will embrace instructional practices to include: (1) a laser-like school-wide focus on student achievement, (2) focus on a select number of school improvement initiatives, (3) focus on mastery of essential skills, (4) consistent use of “writing to inform” with common rubrics and collaborative scoring, (5) frequent assessments with multiple opportunities for improvement, (6) focus on achievement and continuous progress of students, and (7) use of performance assessments. Our school will develop effective parent communication processes that operate in conjunction with the district parent communication system. Newsletters, announcements, handbooks, school marquees, public service announcements, newspaper articles, parent committees, parent surveys, and student report cards will be avenues of communicating with parents. WEMS will promote and support respectful, on-going, inclusive and bi-directional communication with parents and the community. This communication will be the means to an end of building a positive relationship.

Parents will be invited to attend workshops on a variety of topics during the school year. Parent workshops range from phonemic awareness to middle school success. The Title I staff at WEMS feels a responsibility in educating families. Therefore, a Grandparent's Day Celebration has been included in the program. All students and staff give grandparents special recognition on this day. An evening parental workshop in mid-October has replaced the Mom's Thanksgiving Luncheon and a Dad's Christmas Luncheon. This workshop will focus on parenting skills in the areas of discipline, helping with homework, and coping with divorce. These events draw large numbers of parents and give Title I the opportunity to provide them with the tools that they can use to better their child's education.

Finally, high-yield instructional strategies for using 3-tier intervention in reading and mathematics are listed in the Title I part of this plan.

Walton Elementary/Middle School will conduct an annual WESTEST and Writing Assessment data analysis before students return to school and develop the appropriate interventions for each student. Also, teachers will conduct data analysis throughout the school year on specific assessment tools (i.e. DIBELS, IKNOW, Compass Learning, Skills Tutor ...).

WEMS will embrace instructional practices to include: (1) a laser-like school-wide focus on student achievement, (2) focus on a select number of school improvement initiatives, (3) focus on mastery of essential skills, (4) consistent use of “writing to inform” with common rubrics and collaborative scoring, (5) frequent assessments with multiple opportunities for improvement, (6) focus on achievement and continuous progress of students, and (7) use of performance assessments. Our school will develop effective parent communication processes that operate in conjunction with the district parent communication system. Newsletters, announcements, handbooks, school marquees, public service announcements, newspaper articles, parent committees, parent surveys, and student report cards will be avenues of communicating with parents. WEMS will promote and support respectful, on-going, inclusive and bi-directional communication with parents and the community. This communication will be the means to an end of building a positive relationship.

Parents will be invited to attend workshops on a variety of topics during the school year. Parent workshops range from phonemic awareness to middle school success. The Title I staff at WEMS feels a responsibility in educating families. Therefore, a Grandparent's Day Celebration has been included in the program. All students and staff give grandparents special recognition on this day. An evening parental workshop in mid-October has replaced the Mom's Thanksgiving Luncheon and a Dad's Christmas Luncheon. This workshop will focus on parenting skills in the areas of discipline, helping with homework, and coping with divorce. These events draw large numbers of parents and give Title I the opportunity to provide them with the tools that they can use to better their child's education.

Finally, high-yield instructional strategies for using 3-tier intervention in reading and mathematics are listed in the Title I part of this plan.

Walton Elementary/Middle School will conduct an annual WESTEST and Writing Assessment data analysis before students return to school and develop the appropriate interventions for each student. Also, teachers will conduct data analysis throughout the school year on specific assessment tools (i.e. DIBELS, IKNOW, Compass Learning, Skills Tutor ...).

WEMS will embrace instructional practices to include: (1) a laser-like school-wide focus on student achievement, (2) focus on a select number of school improvement initiatives, (3) focus on mastery of essential skills, (4) consistent use of “writing to inform” with common rubrics and collaborative scoring, (5) frequent assessments with multiple opportunities for improvement, (6) focus on achievement and continuous progress of students, and (7) use of performance assessments. Our school will develop effective parent communication processes that operate in conjunction with the district parent communication system. Newsletters, announcements, handbooks, school marquees, public service announcements, newspaper articles, parent committees, parent surveys, and student report cards will be avenues of communicating with parents. WEMS will promote and support respectful, on-going, inclusive and bi-directional communication with parents and the community. This communication will be the means to an end of building a positive relationship.

Parents will be invited to attend workshops on a variety of topics during the school year. Parent workshops range from phonemic awareness to middle school success. The Title I staff at WEMS feels a responsibility in educating families. Therefore, a Grandparent's Day Celebration has been included in the program. All students and staff give grandparents special recognition on this day. An evening parental workshop in mid-October has replaced the Mom's Thanksgiving Luncheon and a Dad's Christmas Luncheon. This workshop will focus on parenting skills in the areas of discipline, helping with homework, and coping with divorce. These events draw large numbers of parents and give Title I the opportunity to provide them with the tools that they can use to better their child's education.

Finally, high-yield instructional strategies for using 3-tier intervention in reading and mathematics are listed in the Title I part of this plan.

Title I compliance

If the purpose of the assignment is to improve student learning, then the teacher should employ formative assessment. This focuses on giving students frequent quick feedback as written comments. The results of formative assessment often drive changes in instructional strategies, collaboration among staff, modification of school schedules, and realignment of resources. To be most effective, formative assessment must be ongoing.

If the purpose of the assignment is to create a finished product, then the teacher should employ summative assessments. The teacher gives the feedback needed to “justify” the grade assigned. The teacher must establish sound assessment criteria and inform students of this criterion. Doing these two things enables student and faculty expectations to match. It makes defending your summative assessments much easier.

(Erin Hogan Fouberg, Summative versus Formative Assessment, Teaching and Learning Technologies, TIP)

Title I, Special Education:

Differentiated instruction is more than a collection of strategies; it is a way of thinking about teaching and learning that can transform classrooms into personalized and responsive learning environments for all students. Differentiated Instruction is a research-based approach that is rooted in educational theory. In differentiated instruction, the teacher’s response to students is guided by the principles of respectful tasks, flexible grouping, ongoing assessment of student learning and adjustment of instruction, based on the assessment. An effective differentiated model is organized around modification of three areas: the content (how students will access the core curriculum), the process (how students will be grouped during instruction and how the classroom will be managed) and the product (how initial and on-going assessments will be used to guide instruction). These three areas are modified according to students’ readiness, interests and learning profiles. In differentiated instruction, the teacher and the student are collaborators in learning, and instruction is focused on the learner’s needs.

University of Virginia professor Carol Ann Tomlinson (2001, 1999) is the name most frequently associated with the current interest in differentiated instruction although the roots of this approach can be found in child psychology and gifted education. Tomlinson (1999) outlines a number of principles which guide the practice of differentiation: 1. The teacher focuses on the essentials 2. The teacher attends to student differences 3. Assessment and instruction are inseparable 4. The teacher modifies content, process, and products 5. All students participate in respectful work 6. The teacher and students collaborate in learning 7. The teacher balances group and individual norms 8. The teacher and students work together flexibly

Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C.A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C.A., & Allan, S.D. (2000). Leadership for differentiating schools and classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Response to Intervention (RTI) refers to an integrated, schoolwide method of service delivery across general and special education that promotes successful school outcomes for all students. In essence, RTI is a twofold system of reliable high-quality instruction and frequent formative assessment of student progress (Mellard, Byrd, Johnson, Tollefson, & Boesche, 2004). Hence, RTI involves systematically evaluating the cause-effect relationship between an academic or behavioral intervention and a student’s response to the intervention (Brown-Chidsey & Steege, 2005). RTI activities are rooted in well-documented special education practices and early reading intervention research (Graner, Faggella-Luby, & Fritschmann, 2005).

Patrica Cunningham in her book Phonics they use: words for reading and writing states that phonemic awareness has proven to be the most powerful predictor of later reading achievement. The International Reading Association published, “Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children”. This report concluded that kindergarten must have basic phonemic awareness by the end of kindergarten. “Every Child Reading: An Action Plan of the Learning First Alliance” (1998) identifies phonemic awareness as one of the most important foundations of reading success.

Also, researchers have concluded that students in classes with fewer students "outperform students in regular classes by a substantial margins in tests of reading and math."(Project STAR, final executive report, Tennesee State Department of Education)

Like any good relationship, an effective partnership with parents is heavily dependent on the quality and frequency of communication. According to a Research & Development Report, 1995, Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children’s Learning, “Frequent and consistent school-to-home communication by teachers has a significant impact on parents’ overall evaluation of teachers and their comfort level with the school.” High performing systems pay attention to this concept both in their expectations that schools develop effective parent communication processes and in the development of their own district parent communication system. All schools and school systems have some type of parent communication system. Newsletters, announcements, handbooks, school marquees, public service announcements, newspaper articles, parent committees, parent surveys, and student report cards are common methods of communicating with parents.

The difference between a strong communication system and an average one lies in the degree to which the system is respectful, on-going, inclusive and, most importantly, “two-way.” The foundation of an effective parent communication system is the basic belief that parent participation and parent perspectives are essential to effectively addressing student needs and solving problems. This basic belief shapes (1) how staff personally interacts with parents and (2) the creativity and determination they use to enhance interaction and assure effective two-way communication. The attitude conveyed by staff in formal and informal communications has a profound effect on overall parent involvement. Effective communication is tied directly to the desire to build a positive relationship.

Carol Ambrecht, a professor at Texas A&M University noted in a research study entitled, Effective Parent/Teacher Communication, that teachers wield significant power in the communication process and tend to dominate traditional processes such as parent/teacher conferences. “It was not surprising…that teachers talked about 75 percent of the time. There were parents who rarely spoke, so it was not really a parent/teacher conference.” It appears that teachers spent the most time providing information and little time “seeking to understand” and seeking to form a positive relationship. Ambrecht also found that most reasons for poor communication had to do with economics and social class.