Achievement and Integration Plan
The purpose of the Achievement and Integration for Minnesota program is to pursue racial and economic integration, increase student achievement, create equitable educational opportunities, and reduce academic disparities based on students’ diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds in Minnesota public schools.
Spring Lake Park Schools’ Achievement and Integration Plan includes the following goals:
- The four-year graduation rate for Spring Lake Park secondary students will increase from 82.4% to 90% for all student groups by spring 2020.
- Racial and ethnic achievement disparities for Spring Lake Park students in Grades 2-8 will decrease from 27.7% to 10% or less by spring 2020 based on MAP reading scores when disaggregated by race/ethnicity; socioeconomic achievement disparities for Spring Lake Park students in Grades 2-8 will decrease from 31.3% to 10% or less by spring 2020 based on MAP reading scores when disaggregated by free or reduced price lunch data.
- Student and Family Advocates
- Family Engagement Experiences
- Embedded College
- Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID)
- Young Scholars Model
The student and family advocates will provide support, expertise, and consultation to ensure our families know what school and community resources are available and how to access the resources. Essential functions include: bridge the gap between families and schools to promote collaborative processes and engagement in the educational planning for students; conduct home and community visits to establish positive communication, connections, and support; locate and link families to community resources to support stability, health and wellness, and learning readiness; provide a spectrum of support (from consult to case management) to students and families; provide educational opportunities on identified topics such as mental health, child development, stress reduction, discipline and safety, and teacher-parent-student communication.
This intervention focuses on bringing schools, parents, students, and community together as partners in the education of each child. Parent Academy (based on the work of the Parent Institute for Quality Education) is a 6-week evening program, offered multiple times during the school year, that provides programming for both parents and students. All participants, including bilingual facilitators, gather for dinner with a focus on enhancing social cohesion. Parents and students then divide into two groups; parent activities will focus on increasing understanding, involvement, and communication between home and school (e.g., help with homework, college and career planning, social-emotional-behavioral development), while student activities will focus on inquiry-based, hands-on learning to support reading, math, and social-emotional skills. CLUES is a comprehensive cross-district summer program offered in Fridley Terrace, a neighborhood that is inclusive of students both in Spring Lake Park schools and Fridley schools. Components include weekly early childhood family education groups for parents and children; 6 weeks of student programming in partnership with Spring Lake Park Parks & Rec; weekly evening programming for all family members inclusive of a meal, parent groups on child development/parenting, health and wellness, and social-emotional learning, and student groups focused on building healthy peer relationships; and interactive presentations from community organizations.
Embedded college options, offered at Spring Lake Park High School and participating partner districts of the North Suburban Post-Secondary Success Consortium, align with our vision to prepare each student for college readiness and the development of academic, life, and career skills so that each student has aspirations for success. Embedded college provides options for students to take rigorous coursework while remaining enrolled at Spring Lake Park High School or integrating into a course offered at a participating consortium partner school district. This increases opportunities for students to receive real-time support as they progress through college coursework. It also results in each student having multiple options to explore various college and career pathways prior to leaving high school, with a greater likelihood of students enrolling, and continuing to completion, post-secondary education.
AVID trains educators to use proven practices in order to prepare students for success in high school, college, and a career, especially students traditionally underrepresented in higher education. Use of AVID strategies develop students' critical thinking, literacy, and math skills across all content areas. In Spring Lake Park, AVID is a school-wide program in Grades 5 and 6, where strategies, skills, and behaviors for academic success are embedded throughout the curriculum. AVID is an elective course at Grades 7-11, which provides intensive support with tutorials and builds strong student/teacher relationships. AVID creates a positive peer group for students, and develops a sense of hope for personal achievement gained through hard work and determination. Spring Lake Park will also partner with districts within the North Suburban Post-Secondary Success Consortium (Fridley, Columbia Heights, Roseville) to identify options to enhance student opportunities, share resources, and deepen the impact of AVID for students across member districts. Students across districts will participate in at least one cross-district field trip focused on college and career exploration and service learning. Additionally, district and site AVID coordinators, as well as AVID elective teachers, will meet to collaborate in professional learning and sharing of resources.
The Young Scholars protocol, originally designed by Fairfax County schools, is designed to find and nurture advanced academic potential in students from historically underrepresented populations. Enrichment and extension activities are provided through collaboration between classroom teachers and gifted specialists that provide creative and critical thinking opportunities for students to question, explore, and investigate. Learning activities are also connected to students' diverse backgrounds as well as to content taught in the regular classroom. Young Scholars students are provided an educational setting that raises their personal expectations and prepares them for more challenging and rigorous coursework and academic programs.