Belonging is a fundamental human need. Researchers describe belonging as, "a major factor that contributes positively to an individual's psychological development." Beyond its implications for mental health, belonging plays a specific role in education. Research shows that belonging positively affects engagement, behavior, safety, and academic performance. Based upon an analysis of Chesney Elementary School Educational Effectiveness Survey results, a need for school improvement actions exists for students to feel a strong sense of belonging and school enjoyment, to feel safe, and to feel supported throughout the school community.

1. Implement Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) schoolwide centered on the 3 R’s: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Ready.
2. Host daily morning meetings that directly address the sense of belonging, school enjoyment, respect from peers, and school safety.
3. Deepen the implementation of Restorative Practices and Social Emotional Learning Integration via ongoing professional learning on community-building circles and  SEL strategies focused on respect, conflict resolution, and emotional regulation.
4. Establish student voice and leadership opportunities via the establishment of an active student council, a student-led school climate committee, and quarterly student-voice forums.
5. Develop a schoolwide positive reinforcement attendance program where classes and individual students are recognized for excellent attendance including but not limited to weekly shout-outs, monthly certificates, and classroom attendance recognition.

EES Student Survey

Percent increase on Educational Effectiveness Survey in the Social Support areas: "Almost Always and Sometimes True"

• I enjoy coming to school. Baseline: 82.7% Target: 83%
• I feel safe at school. Baseline: 86.6% Target: 87%
• I work well in a group or team. Baseline: 92.4% Target: 93%
• Most students are respectful of others at this school. Baseline: 79.5% Target: 80%
• In this school, there is at least one adult who knows and cares about me. Baseline: 92.8% Target: 93%

Schoolwide Attendance

A multi-tiered system of supports(MTSS) is a proactive and preventative framework that allows us to integrate data  and instruction to maximize student achievement and support students’ social, emotional, and  behavior needs from a strengths- based perspective. Such a multi-tiered system affords CES a strategic pathway to address and reduce educational inequities, providing each and  every student and staff members with targeted supports and enrichment that increase opportunities  to succeed. During the 2024-2025 school year, more than 10% of Chesney Elementary School students demonstrated a school wide need  for intervention support.

1. Engage in professional development to build small group instructional capacity via the Learn, See, Do framework (demo days and CLT), keenly focusing on the three components of effective small groups (state the purpose, share the expected outcome, and provide a strategy and/or a scaffold.
2. Conduct data analysis of formative assessments and monitor the effectiveness of differentiated small-group instruction to inform small-group instructional capacity.
3. Expose every student to grade-level standards at the proficient and/or distinguished levels using our district curriculum.
4. Monitor the frequency of effective small group instruction and provide reflective feedback to all teachers via 3-A-Day Walkthroughs and Learning Walks.
5. Offer Extended Learning Time (ELT) and daily Reading and Math interventions along with extensions during Instructional Focus (AKS/CQI) Time while also using the MTSS Air Rubric to monitor progress toward school wide implementation.

iReady Universal Screener (Meeting Typical and Stretch Growth)

Percentage of Kindergarten through Fifth students demonstrating sufficient growth in the first semester to allow them to meet their annual typical and/or growth target by the
end of the school year. (Progress to Annual Typical Growth; Mid-Year Math: 60% LA: 65%; End of the Year: Math: 100% LA: 100%)

iReady Universal Screener (Meeting Typical and Stretch Growth)

GA Milestones Assessments (Proficiency Rate)
Percentage of Student Scoring in Proficient and Distinguished on GA Milestones Reading, Mathematics, and Science Assessments

GA Milestones Assessments (Reading On Grade Level)

Percentage of Students Performing at or above grade level on the Reading portion of GA Milestones Assessments

ACCESS
Percentage of Multilingual Learners(ML) Progress Toward Language Proficiency-CCRPI

Chesney Elementary is facing a growing challenge: students are arriving in our classrooms with significant gaps in their learning, largely due to unequal educational opportunities, limited access, and insufficient readiness. We believe that by expanding opportunities and access for all students, we can bridge these gaps. This means ensuring every student engages with a high-quality, grade-level curriculum, and crucially, that they have increased pathways to qualify for gifted programming and advanced content courses. Our data from the 2024-25 school year shows that fewer than 15% of our students participated in these programs or rigorous instruction. Our Educational Effectiveness System data also clearly indicates a need to improve student access to rigorous courses and support, academically challenging instruction (including interest-rich learning), and robust school-to-home partnerships.

1. Administer the iReady universal screener and analyze the results to identify students’ academic strengths and areas of improvement, as well as those who demonstrate a profile of gifted and talented.
2. Utilize the iReady platform resources to provide purposeful small-group instruction for students who are not demonstrating progress toward grade level expectations and/or for those who are meeting or exceeding grade level expectations.
3. Implement, monitor, and incentivize the consistent use of iReady through the student goal-setting process and the iReady School-Wide and Homework Challenges.
4. Provide advanced content and enrichment courses in reading and math for students demonstrating a need for extension opportunities.
5. Engage and involve parents and families in learning experiences centered on at-home instructional tools, resources, and data to support and positively impact student achievement in math, reading, science, and social studies.

CogAT

Increase the Number of Gifted and Talented Representation from underrepresented student racial, ethnic, and gender groups.

EES Survey: Student
Percent increase on Educational Effectiveness Survey in the following categories: Belonging and Identity and Monitoring of Teaching and Learning
"Almost Always and Sometimes True"

• My teacher tells me the purpose for each lesson or activity. Baseline: 81.1% Target: 82%%
• Work I do in this school is useful and interesting to me. Baseline: 85.3% Target: 86%
• My teacher often tells me how I am doing in class. Baseline: 90% Target: 91% 
• Adults in this school help me plan  and set goals for my future. Baseline: 86.7% Target: 87%)