West+Glocester+Elementary+School+Fall+2011

Annie Walsh

 West Glocester Elementary School  111 Reynolds Rd. Chepachet, RI 02814 (401)-568-0350 Introduction ====Glocester, RI is located in the Northwest corner of the state of Rhode Island. Widely known in New England for their many school day cancelations during the winter months, Glocester is a small town with only two public elementary schools (West Glocester and Fogarty Memorial) and one neighboring school in Foster, RI. These three schools are later combined to create the student body of Ponaganset Middle and High School. Principal Nancy Zambarano is new to the West Glocester staff but is working to continue the work of her predecessor Dr. Bowen. The Glocester School district is run under Superintendent Mrs. Patricia Dubois, and the Foster-Glocester school district is overlooked by Superintendent Dr. Michael Barnes with Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kay Wood. West Glocester Elementary (WGES) has roughly 243 students and 37 teachers, with a student to teacher ratio of 10:1. This school consists of classes for Pre-K up to the 5th Grade, special education classes, reading workshops and language development specialists. West Glocester is creating a fun learning environment and teaching their students to strive for not only a secondary education, but also to go on to college. The purpose of this site is to help parents, guardians or educators gain essential information about the Glocester community, school system and The West Glocester Elementary School itself. ====

Community Background ====The rural town of Glocester is in close proximity to Putnam, CT, Burrillville and Smithfield, RI. This quaint village takes pride in keeping the town's rustic local shops, houses and tourist spots kept fresh and homely. There are many small shops in the center of the town that have been run for almost the entirety of the towns existence dating back to 1639 a short while after Roger Williams had founded Providence Plantations, Rhode Island. This town is primarily consisted of middle class families, with only 3.4% of the town being below poverty level. While most families in this community are doing fairly well and are able to make more than the average person in RI, there are still 23,608 families in Rhode Island that are below poverty level. With majority of the town being caucasian (98.5%) compared to Rhode Island's 81.4% caucasian, the demographics of this area do not vary much. Glocester consist of only 0.7% African American compared to Rhode Island's 5.7%, the Hispanic population of Glocester makes up only 1.4% of the town compared to 12.4% within Rhode Island. ====

(http://www.glocesterri.org/index.html),
http://factfinder.census.gov

Economic Characteristics: Income/Poverty Demographic Profile: Race/Ethnicity  District Summary: In the third grade the New England Common Assessment Program or NECAP is conducted, it tests the skills of the students in math and reading. The next year in fourth grade they are tested in math reading and science, the fifth grade students are also tested, but in the subject areas of math, reading and writing. The NECAP tests are conducted through 8th grade and then are re-established for one final year when students are in 11th grade. The NECAP's are distributed in the New England area so that school administrators, teachers, parents, and state appointed department of education head are able to see how students are learning and using the skills taught to them. The results of the 2010-2011 NECAP's showed that the third grade math score of Glocester was lower than the state percentage, Glocester was 59% proficient compared to RI's 62% in math. Although the third grade in math scored lower than the state average, it can be determined that third graders in Glocester are performing at the same math level as the average in Rhode Island. The third grade reading levels were higher than RI's but again not by much, Glocester 74%, RI 71%. Fourth grade math scores for Glocester returned at 70% compared to RI's 63%. The Fifth grade math levels in Glocester for 2010-2011 are 72% compared to Rhode Island's 62%. While Glocester is doing better than the average for Rhode Island in most tested subjects, there are drastic differences between Glocester a middle class town, Barrington one of the wealthiest towns in RI and Central Falls one of the poorer towns in RI. An example from the NECAP's can be fifth grade math levels, The state of Rhode Island's proficiency is 62%, Glocester is 72%, Barrington excels at 90% and Central Falls lacks these skills with results at 38% proficiency. Overall Glocester is performing at an acceptable level and are able to keep up with if not exceed Rhode Island's average.



School Analysis: West Glocester Elementary School is one of two elementary schools in the Glocester District, because of this I have decided to compare the NECAP test scores of West Glocester and the second school, Fogarty Memorial Elementary School. While these two schools are combined to create the average for the Glocester District, the results show that Fogarty Memorial School has higher test scores. WGES 3rd grade reading scores were 64% where Fogarty's 3rd grade reading scores were at 80% and the district was at 74%. Although WGES's scores may be lower than Fogarty Memorial, when these schools are looked at as a district, they are performing at satisfactory skill levels. Teachers at WGES are all highly qualified, and there are no teachers at West Glocsester that hold an emergency certification compared to Central Fall's 2% and the state's 1% of all teachers. The teacher to student ratio is also at a low reasonable amount, it being 1:11. At West Glocester the school day begins in a homeroom at 9:00am am and continues on until 9:15am, continuing after that there are three 45 minute periods and then the students have a lunch break, each grade has a set lunch time each day. After returning from lunch the students have their last three periods of the day, and the school day ends at 3:15pm. West Glocester has always offered a number of extra curricular activities through after school programs. These include a yearbook club, science club and reading club among many more.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.5em;">Conclusion <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">West Glocester Elementary School is a wonderful school with caring teachers, aides, secretaries who make the school environment enjoyable for 5 year olds to 11 year olds. The town of Glocester is for families who like a rural setting and enjoy the small town environment. This town and school system offers many opportunities for families to enjoy themselves with annual holiday activities offered in the center of town, or for students with holiday workshops near Christmas time. West Glocester Elementary School's students are performing at levels about equal to Rhode Island's average for NECAP testing. Having gone to West Glocester Elementary School from Kindergarten through 5th grade, I can confirm that WGES is a wonderful school with wonderful staff members and teaching skills. I was able to gain so much knowledge throughout my years at WGES and enjoyed all of my time there. Although much has changed at WGES since I have been there, I have visited over the years and have seen that the loving and caring environment is still one of the same. West Glocester Elementary School is a wonderful choice to make whether for your child or for prospective teachers because of the wonderful community within and outside of school.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.5em;">References
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Town of Glocester, RI. (12, October 2010). Retrieved October 23, 2011. From http://www.glocesterri.org/index.html <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">West Glocester Elementary School. (23, September 2009). Retrieved October 23, 2011. From http://www.ri.net/schools/Glocester/WGES/home.html <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">U.S. Census Bureau Fact Sheet. (2001). Retrieved October 23, 2011. http://factfinder.census.gov <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">RI Kids Count: Indicators of Child Well-Being, Profile of Providence, RI. (2010). Retrieved October 2011. From http://rikidscount.org/matriarch/documents/Glocester_2011.pdf <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Retrieved October 22, 2011. From http://www.ride.ri.gov/assessment/necap.aspx

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rubric

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Introduction = 5/ 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Intro provides an overview of the upcoming analysis, including what school/district/community is being analyzed, what aspects are being analyzed, and who the report is intended to inform. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Intro names the school/district/community and previews the scope of the report, but does not describe who the report is intended to inform. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Intro names the school/district/community but not much else. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 - Intro fails to name the school, district, and community. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - No introduction section is apparent. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Constructive comments about report's introduction: Well written and informational. Covers all topics.

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Organization = 5 / 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Report includes an Introduction, a Conclusion, and sections for the School, District, and Community. Within each section, paragraphs logically group the information presented. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Report includes all of the sections mentioned previously, but does not break down information into paragraphs within each section. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Report is missing one of the sections. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 - Report is missing more than one section. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - Report does not include any sections. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strengths and constructive comments about report's organization: Very well organized and easy to understand. Graphs all make sense and flow with the information in each section.

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Mechanics = 4 / 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - All information in the report is cited using APA styled- citations after the information and in a Reference section at the end of the report.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There are extremely few typos and misspelled words in the report. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Most information is cited using APA style.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and/or

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There are a noticeable number of typos or misspellings. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Some citations in the References section are not in APA style, e.g. URLs are listed without the title of the website.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and/or

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There are many typos, misspellings, or other writing errors. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 - Most of the report's information is not cited, or APA style was not used. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - Report does not include a Reference section. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strengths and constructive comments about report's organization: Just cite in text.

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Conclusion = 5 / 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Conclusion reviews analysis of school, district and community and describes why findings should be important to reader. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Conclusion reviews analysis of school, district and community. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Conclusion does not refer back to report findings. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - No conclusion section is apparent. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strengths and constructive comments about conclusion: Restates good information about both the community and the school itself. States why this would be a good choice to raise a family and send them to school.

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Creativity = 5 / 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Report is written in an engaging style. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Report has some interesting sections. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Report generally reports information without seemingly without purpose. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strengths and constructive comments about presentation: Very engaging and flowed well. Information was not overwhelming or hard to follow and it was well written.

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Thoroughness = 9 /10 pts** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Report includes at least ten different facts in each section (school, community, district) and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">compares each figure with another relevant figure (e.g. state or national average) and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">states whether or not the school is meeting NCLB standards. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Report includes at least eight different facts in each section and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">compares most figures with relevant values and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">states whether or not the school is meeting NCLB standards. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Report includes at least six different facts in each section and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">compares some of the figures to other relevant figures || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 - Report includes at least four different facts in each section and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">compares some of the figures to other relevant figures. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - Report includes less than four different facts for any section or

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">fails to compare any figures with other relevant figures. || Comments: Very thorough with lots of good information that would be useful to someone considering sending their child to this school.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Rubric

Reviewed by Mary Loveley SCORE: 35/35 pts.

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Introduction = 5/ 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Intro provides an overview of the upcoming analysis, including what school/district/community is being analyzed, what aspects are being analyzed, and who the report is intended to inform. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Intro names the school/district/community and previews the scope of the report, but does not describe who the report is intended to inform. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Intro names the school/district/community but not much else. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 - Intro fails to name the school, district, and community. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - No introduction section is apparent. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Constructive comments about report's introduction:

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Organization = 5/ 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Report includes an Introduction, a Conclusion, and sections for the School, District, and Community. Within each section, paragraphs logically group the information presented. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Report includes all of the sections mentioned previously, but does not break down information into paragraphs within each section. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Report is missing one of the sections. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 - Report is missing more than one section. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - Report does not include any sections. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strengths and constructive comments about report's organization:

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Mechanics = 5/ 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - All information in the report is cited using APA styled- citations after the information and in a Reference section at the end of the report.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There are extremely few typos and misspelled words in the report. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Most information is cited using APA style.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and/or

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There are a noticeable number of typos or misspellings. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Some citations in the References section are not in APA style, e.g. URLs are listed without the title of the website.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and/or

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">There are many typos, misspellings, or other writing errors. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 - Most of the report's information is not cited, or APA style was not used. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - Report does not include a Reference section. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strengths and constructive comments about report's organization:

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Conclusion = 5/ 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Conclusion reviews analysis of school, district and community and describes why findings should be important to reader. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Conclusion reviews analysis of school, district and community. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Conclusion does not refer back to report findings. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - No conclusion section is apparent. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strengths and constructive comments about conclusion:

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Creativity = 5/ 5 pts.** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Report is written in an engaging style. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Report has some interesting sections. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Report generally reports information without seemingly without purpose. ||

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Strengths and constructive comments about presentation:

===<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.1em;"> **Thoroughness = 5/10 pts** ===


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5 - Report includes at least ten different facts in each section (school, community, district) and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">compares each figure with another relevant figure (e.g. state or national average) and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">states whether or not the school is meeting NCLB standards. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4 - Report includes at least eight different facts in each section and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">compares most figures with relevant values and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">states whether or not the school is meeting NCLB standards. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3 - Report includes at least six different facts in each section and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">compares some of the figures to other relevant figures || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2 - Report includes at least four different facts in each section and

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">compares some of the figures to other relevant figures. || <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">0 - Report includes less than four different facts for any section or

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">fails to compare any figures with other relevant figures. ||