Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Current Reality and Gsaps 1 1
Current Reality and Gsaps 1 1
Taylor Bright
May 2023
Dr. Campbell
June 2021
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 2
Overview
World Language Academy (WLA) is a dual immersion school offered to students in pre-
k through the eighth grade. WLA was the first dual immersion program to be offered in the Hall
County School System and opened in 2008. Students begin pre-k learning in 100% Spanish.
Once they enter kindergarten and first grade they learn at a 90:10 model and then beginning in
second through eighth grade students learn in the 50:50 model. The school is divided into the
elementary school, prek-5th, and then the middle school, 6th-8th. Student’s who live in the Hall
County district are able to attend WLA free of charge as long as they have transportation.
Student’s who live outside the county who wish to attend need to pay a tuition fee each year.
Vision
The Hall County school district overall is a 1:1 ratio for technology. Every student has
the opportunity to check out a Chromebook at the beginning of the year. IPads, Epson Smart
Boards and various other technology devices are also available for use by the teachers and
students. WLA’s technology goal this year is to find an appropriate balance. Last year teachers
were using too much technology and students were not as engaged. It was also observed that
many of the activities the teachers were completing online could have easily been done on paper.
The hope is to provide professional learning opportunities to show teachers how to create
engaging lessons using technology that will allow students to go above and beyond anything that
can be done on paper. The school will also implement a Tech Tuesday once a month. This will
be coordinated by the BLaST team. Members of the team will work in pairs to create training
sessions and lessons to show teachers around the school how to implement the various
technologies available at the school. The classes will be conducted once a month after school.
Teachers will get to choose which class interests them the most.
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 3
Needs Assessment
Hall County uses a balance score card to set goals for each school year. The scorecard
focuses on three main areas; character, competency and rigor. Under each of these areas various
goals are created.. For example, under competency one of the goals is “by the end of third grade
90% of HCSD students will be able to read on grade level.” (Hall County School District
Balanced Scorecard, 2021) Each school then looks at this scorecard to create a School
Improvement Plan. These plans are specific to the school and their goals but still go along with
the county goals. The school’s leadership team meets over the summer to review the previous
years data. From evaluation of the data the team then begins to create specific goals for the
school. For example, according to last year's data it showed that 75% of third grade students
were reading on or above grade level. (WLA School improvement plan, 2021) With this finding
the county's goal of 90% of third grade students was lowered to 80% of third grade students to
meet the needs of WLA. Once the school improvement plan is created it is presented to teachers
at the beginning of the year during grade level meetings. Teachers get to provide input and
discuss how they will achieve these goals. They then set grade level specific goals to focus on.
From these goals various PLs are created to help the teachers become the most successful. For
example, one math goal this year is for teachers to continue to effectively implement math
exemplars. To help accomplish this goal, an exemplars expert will come in every other month to
discuss ways to implement exemplars and to go over the data collected by the teachers. The
trainer will even go into the classrooms and show teachers how to implement exemplars.
Professional Learning
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 4
Various types of Pls are available for teachers. The school sets up ELA and Math PLs
each month. During planning twice a month teachers attend one of these meetings. These
meetings are led by one of the county’s professional learning specialists. During the ELA
meeting the content specialist provides various strategies for teachers to implement into the
classroom that coordinate with our curriculum content. She may also send out something to the
teachers to complete before the meeting and then during the meeting they discuss the outcome.
For example, the county has implemented a new reading assessment. The ELA specialist asked
teachers to complete the assessments with the students and then had teachers bring specific
questions to the meeting about the assessment. The Math specialist does similar content with the
math teachers.
Along with these PLs teachers also participate in PLCs that focus on specific areas.
Currently WLA has SLA, ELA, BLaST, parent involvement, and math PLCs. These groups meet
every other month. The first meeting of the school year is to discuss their goal and how to meet
that goal. The BLaST team is focused on how to implement technology more into the classrooms
in an engaging way. Members of the teams look for research strategies to discuss during the
meetings. The team discusses a strategy they want to focus on and then implement it into the
classroom. They then meet to discuss how it went. The ELA group is focusing on a book study
this year. All groups implement strategies into the classroom and collect data to see if the
The county also provided many PL opportunities. Some PLs are conducted as an entire
county. Over the past few years one of the counties main focus is on students mental health and
how we can build stronger relationships with our students. During pre-planning the entire staff in
the county attended a mental health seminar. Other county PLs are provided virtually. Some are
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 5
self-guided classes while others are instructor-led. These courses are available during the
summer as well as throughout the school year. An example of one of these courses is the
Certified Canvas course. This is an instructor led course and the teacher becomes Canvas
certified at the end. Teachers are given content to read and explore and then an assignment to
complete. The instructor provides feedback on each assignment. Teachers can sign-up for these
PLs are set up with the school improvement goals in mind. The math goal is “ By the end
of fifth grade, 90% of students will master 90% of their basic fluency facts (addition,
School Improvement Plan, 2021) The school has scheduled numerous math PLs throughout the
year to help teachers work towards meeting this goal. The math specialist will provide teachers
with strategies to use during whole group assignments as well as small groups. The specialist
will also provide training on the new Eureka math program they are expected to use. Teachers
can also schedule times for the math specialist to come in and observe a lesson and provide
feedback or to model a lesson. New teachers in the school will get additional training in these
areas.
The ELA goal for the school is “By the end of fifth grade, 90% of HCSD students will
be able to read on grade-level.” (WLA School Improvement Plan, 2021) The ELA specialist will
come into the school and complete training similar to the way the math specialist does. The ELA
specialist focuses more on conferencing with students and how to help students set and reach
goals. The system has adopted the Fountas and Pinnell reading program and the specialist will
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 6
help teachers go through the lesson book and help design lessons that will best fit the needs of
the students.
One last goal of the school is to focus on the mental health of the students. The goal is for
every child in the building to be able to identify at least one trusted adult that they can go to in a
time of need. Teachers are working with the school's social worker to learn about the MTSS
intervention system.
The content specialists provided by the county do not require payment from the
individual schools. They are county employees and paid through the county. WLA is a Title II
school and is given $3,851 towards PL. The district also gives WLA a professional learning (PL)
fund of $1,800. Any other PL is paid for using PTO funds. The exemplar expert mentioned in the
above section is brought in from outside the county and is paid through the Professional learning
(PL) and Title II fund. The PL fund and Title II also pays for substitutes when teachers attend
While many of the PLs provided from the county do not offer any type of stipend there
are a few. Many of the ones that are conducted during the summer or that require participants to
turn in assignments in a timely manner do have a stipend provided. The goal of PL is for teachers
to improve their practice and to show growth on their TKES annual review.
Diversity
This is an area where the WLA school needs more PLs. Many of the PLs do not focus
specifically on diversity. The special education teacher attends training each year that focuses on
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 7
how to help children with disabilities. The school also has an occupational therapist assigned to
the school that assists teachers when they have students that need OT services. She meets with
the teachers individually to talk about various accommodations and how they are used to assist
the student.
Collaboration
collaborative planning. Sometimes the meetings are vertical planning with either the grade level
below or above. Other times the meetings are focused on content. For example all the ELA
teachers may meet and discuss what is happening in each of the grade levels and how they are
working towards the school goals. Teachers also meet with their grade levels once a week to
discuss data and content. Grade levels also get two, half-day, plannings throughout the year to
Since WLA is one of three dual language programs in the county all the Spanish teachers
from the other dual language schools meet together, three times a year, to discuss how the dual
immersion program is working in their school, as well as strategies they have found helpful.
Evaluation
Overall WLA has strong professional learnings that are focused on the school
improvement plan. The areas of strength are in collaboration and content specific PLs. The area
that needs the most improvement is in diversity. WLA has many teachers and students from
various backgrounds and those should be celebrated and talked about. One of the most successful
PLs that have been implemented is the math exemplars. The school has used this for a little over
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 8
5 years now. Teachers mention each year that students are able to understand math more and are
able to talk about how they got to a solution. Another successful PL was reading conferences that
was presented by the county ELA specialists. The specialist discussed the different types of
conference and the steps for each one. Then the specialist modeled how a conference would be
completed with a student. Teachers then got to try using various selected students. This gave
teachers the opportunity to ask questions right then and there instead of when they were alone in
the classroom. WLA is fourtuant to be in a county that strives to find great PLs for their teachers.
Reference Page
Hall County School System. (2018–2023). Hall County School District Scorecard
[Dataset].
World Language Academy School Improvement Plan, 2021, T. Bright, personal communication,
September 2021
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 9
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
The means by which teachers, administrators, and other staff acquire, enhance, and refine
the knowledge, skills, practices, and dispositions necessary to create and support high levels
of learning for all students
EVIDENCE: In the space below, provide detailed evidence supporting your rating
above
–https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1bvWF1pHDQAF5kMUGbbD40yiR2o7
8RxxrmOBRjQKGavQ/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Kkz3ipWYv1-
Zo9T4QmELOUAbckjXK_DUvp5yFsNR9LU/edit?usp=sharing
The school improvement plan was developed by taking a look at the data collected by
teachers at the end of last year and the Milestone testing. An extensive conversation
was had over the trends that were seen in the data and if the Milestone data correlated
with the data collected by the teachers. The leadership team also looked at the parent
survey that was provided to all the parents to fill out. This survey was a perspective of
how the school is performing from the parents point of view.
RECOMMENDATIONS: The one area of growth would be that the PLs be more
differentiated. Many of the Pls offered to all grade levels and some of the content may
not work in the lower grade levels. PLs should be more differentiated to allow better
response from the teachers.
EVIDENCE: In the space below, provide detailed evidence supporting your rating
above – Teachers and staff meet every Tuesday to collaborate and discuss how to
improve the school. Teachers are broken up into groups with a representative from
each grade level in each group. The groups are broken up into ELA, SLA, Math and
Technology. Each group has a shared Google drive where meeting minutes, data and
resources are stored. When grade levels meet as a group they each take turns discussing
what happened during the other group meetings.
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 12
RECOMMENDATIONS: Many times the teachers do not come prepared for what was
supposed to be discussed during the meeting. There needs to be more accountability
during the meetings and more structure. The group will get off topic on unrelated
subjects. Each member can be given a job. For example, a note keeps, time tracker,
leader etc. This will allow for everyone to have a responsibility and things to stay on
track.
EVIDENCE: In the space below, provide detailed evidence supporting your rating
above – While the school has a ton of professional learning opportunities they are
rarely backed-up. The PL is presented to the teachers but then nothing is ever said after
that or the teachers are not given the material to complete the strategy.
EVIDENCE: In the space below, provide detailed evidence supporting your rating
above – Teachers have the opportunity to participate in a variety of PLs platforms.
Some are presented online and at the teachers own pace while are led by an instructor.
Some PLs are offered county wide and all certified and uncertified staff take part. The
county provides a website with links and places of all the PLs offered throughout the
county.
https://pl.hallco.org/
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 15
RECOMMENDATIONS: While there are many job embedded PLs for the math teachers
there should be more of this for the ELA teachers. Sometimes teachers are presented
with wonderful strategies that sound great in isolation but then they have a hard time
trying to figure out how to implement it into the classroom. It would be great to have
someone come in and do a lesson study with a whole classroom of students.
EVIDENCE: In the space below, provide detailed evidence supporting your rating
above – The school does a wonderful job making sure that teachers get the needed
material. The school tries to get every teacher a copy of the material or they have one
copy in the PL room for teachers to check out and share.
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 17
EVIDENCE: In the space below, provide detailed evidence supporting your rating
above – During conferences is when PL evaluation is discussed. Administration also
asked the teachers which type of PLs they would like to attend in the future.
EVIDENCE: In the space below, provide detailed evidence supporting your rating
above – The teachers at WLA do a wonderful job of creating positive learning
environments where students feel open to share and participate in class. Each year a
survey is sent around to parents to evaluate the school. Positive learning is an area WLA
scores high in each year. Teachers are also successful at meeting students needs and
adjusting assignments to best meet the student.
CURRENT REALITY AND GSAPS 20
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Kkz3ipWYv1-
Zo9T4QmELOUAbckjXK_DUvp5yFsNR9LU/edit?usp=sharing
RECOMMENDATIONS: WLA is a dual language school and has many festivals centered
around the hispanic culture. It would be great to see if the students had a chance to
show their culture and where they come from because there are more than just the
hispanic aspect of it.