Jordan Middle School Improvement Plan

Improvement Plan 2003-2004 (pdf)
Improvement Plan 2004-2005 (pdf)
Improvement Plan 2005-2006 (pdf) Final Report 2005-2006(pdf)
Improvement Plan 2006-2007 (pdf)

Overview

During the off site Staff Development Day on February 18th, 2003 teachers were given prompts that led to discussions of teaming and how to make Jordan a model middle school. Staff listened to colleagues describe what it was like to be a"student for a day." Hearing about the experiences of these teachers helped to pave the way for discussions of teaming and further implementation of appropriate task forces and/or cluster groups. As a result, staff was divided up into cluster groups for the 2003-2004-2005 school year with the purpose of providing input for goal setting and decision making. Each cluster group includes mix of different grade level teachers, several departments, and classified staff.

Task Force Reports 2002-2003-2004

During the 2004-2005 school year there were many discussions and forums centered around teaming, See the Teaming page for a more thorough history and notes/updates. The activities of the task forces continued during the 2004-2005 school year, however there are not any written updates on the specific activities of each task force. One of the highlights of the community building task force was the Dia de Los Muertos event. Click Here for a description and photos.

7/8 grade teaming was implemented during the 2005-2006 school year. In the Fall the elective team sponsored a community school wide event, "The Harlem Renaissance." The purpose was to celebrate this particularly creative and culturally rich time period in U.S. history and share the African American perspective and pride.The February 17 Staff Development Retreat focused on writing across the curriculum.The staff learned how to use the John Collins Writing Program and were excited to apply the tools of writing in their classsrooms. This program was designed to help teachers achieve their goals in all content areas. This is accomplished by frequently using focused writing assignments to increase students’ involvement in lessons, checking on their understanding of concepts, and/or promoting their thinking about content. See the brochure for a quick synopsis of the program.