WELCOME TO

Committee Members:
Melanie Sluder, chairperson, 3rd grade teacher
Dr. Tracey Crowe, principal
Kathy Whisman, part-time Parent Involvement Coordinator & Title I reading teacher
Leigh Scheuer, Special Education Pre-K teacher
Janet Clark, 2nd grade teacher
Amy Woodring, Guidance Counselor
Debra Williams, part-time Resource teacher
Katie Sword, 5th grade teacher
Johnnie Sue Baker, parent

FORM 1.1: SIP Leadership Team Composition
(Rubric 1.1)
SIP Leadership Team Member Name Leader-
ship Chair? (Y/N) Position Name of Subcommittee(s) (when applicable)
Melanie Sluder Y 3rd Grade Teacher School Profile and Collaborative Process & Beliefs, Mission & Vision
Katie Sword Y 5th Grade Teacher Academic & Non-Academic Data
Cathy Bryant Y 4th Grade Teacher Curricular, Instructional, Assessment, & Organizational Effectiveness
Deborah Pasko Y 5th Grade Teacher Curricular, Instructional, Assessment, & Organizational Effectiveness
Jenny Stophel Y Resource Teacher Action Plan Development
Beth Rhinehardt Y Librarian Action Plan Development
Sarah Hackney Y Kindergarten Teacher School Improvement Plan and Process Evaluation
LaVonda Cole N PTA President School Climate
Johnnie Sue Baker N Parent Communication
Susan Spangler N Parent Curriculum
Tracey Crowe N School Principal All committees

FORM 1.2: Subcommittee Formation and Operation
Each of the following subcommittees represent various grade levels within the school and include stakeholders relevant to our school community.

(Rubric 1.2)
Subcommittee for COMPONENT 1 School Profile and Collaborative Process
Member Name Position Chair
Melanie Sluder 3rd Grade Teacher Y
Kathy Whisman Part-time Parent Involvement Coordinator & Title I Reading Teacher N
Leigh Scheuer Special Education Pre-K Teacher N
Janet Clark 2nd Grade Teacher N
Amy Woodring Guidance Counselor N
Debra Williams Part-time Resource Teacher N
Katie Sword 5th Grade Teacher
N
Johnnie Sue Baker Parent N
Component 1 Subcommittee has met and minutes are on file. 1 YES 0 NOSubcommittee 1 Chair Signature

Subcommittee for COMPONENT 2 Beliefs, Mission and Vision
Member Name Position Chair
Melanie Sluder 3rd Grade Teacher Y
Kathy Whisman Part-time Parent Involvement Coordinator & Title I Reading Teacher N
Leigh Scheuer Special Education Pre-K Teacher N
Janet Clark 2nd Grade Teacher N
Amy Woodring Guidance Counselor N
Debra Williams Part-time Resource Teacher N
Johnnie Sue Baker Parent N
Component 2 Subcommittee has met and minutes are on file. 1 YES 0 NOSubcommittee 2 Chair Signature

Subcommittee for COMPONENT 3 Academic and Non-Academic Data Analysis
Member Name Position Chair
Katie Sword 5th Grade Teacher Y
Tammy Chandler Pre-K Teacher N
Becky Faidley 6th Grade Teacher N
Hazel Robbins 3rd Grade Teacher N
Trey Arrington Physical Education Teacher N
Beth Rutherford 1st Grade Teacher N
LaVonda Cole PTA president, parent N
Component 3 Subcommittee has met and minutes are on file. 1 YES 0 NOSubcommittee 3 Chair Signature
Subcommittee for COMPONENT 4 Curricular, Instructional, Assessment, and Organizational Effectiveness
Member Name Position Chair
Cathy Bryant 4th Grade Teacher Y
Deborah Pasko 5th Grade Teacher Y
Susan McKee 1st Grade Teacher N
Jeff Blackburn Art Teacher N
Allison Dandy 6th Grade Teacher N
Andy Perry Kindergarten Teacher N
Heather Scheel Pre-K Teacher N
Susan Spangler Parent N
Component 4 Subcommittee has met and minutes are on file. 1 YES 0 NOSubcommittee 4 Chair Signature

Subcommittee for COMPONENT 5 Action Plan Development
Member Name Position Chair
Jenny Stophel Resource Teacher Y
Beth Rhinehardt Librarian Y
Melanie Crain 6th Grade Teacher N
Janice Knapp 4th Grade Teacher N
Julie Saul Kindergarten Teacher N
Sammi Chafin Pre-K Teacher N
Erin Elam 1st Grade Teacher N
Jeff Bryant Parent N
Component 5 Subcommittee has met and minutes are on file. 1 YES 0 NOSubcommittee 5 Chair Signature

Subcommittee for COMPONENT 6 The School Improvement Plan and Process Evaluation
Member Name Position Chair
Sarah Hackney Kindergarten Y
Deb Miller Special Education Pre-K N
Betty Stergios Title I Teacher N
Lucretia Mowrey 3rd Grade Teacher N
Lynn O’Neal Title I Teacher N
Becky Rutherford 2nd Grade Teacher N
Glenna McClain Parent N
Component 6 Subcommittee has met and minutes are on file. 1 YES 0 NO
Subcommittee 6 Chair Signature

Component 1 - School Profile and Collaborative Process
FORM 1.3 Collection of Demographic Data and Analysis
FORM 1.3.1: School and Community Data
Narrative and analysis of relevant school and community factors:
Community Characteristics
Anderson Elementary School is located in northeast Tennessee in Sullivan County, and is part of the Bristol Tennessee City Schools. There are six industrial parks in the TN/VA area, housing approximately 56 employers. Major employers in the area include K-VA-T, Wellmont Health Centers, Berkline Furniture Manufactures, King Pharmaceuticals, Bristol Compressors, Sprint, and CitiCommerce Solutions. The unemployment rate in Bristol is about 5.9%, with an average annual income of $30,039.
The racial demographics of the area include 92.2% Caucasian, 5.2% African American, 1.3% Hispanic, 0.8% Asian, and 0.4% Asian. These demographics are representative of the Anderson community.
The Bristol/Tri-City area features many desirable and historic attractions including Bristol Motor Speedway, Barter Theatre, Paramount Center for the Arts, William King Art Center, Sycamore Shoals battleground, Rocky Mount, Cherokee National Forest, Pisgah National Forest, popular sections of the Appalachian Trail, as well as Bristol’s national distinction as the Birthplace of Country Music.
Anderson’s distinctiveness begins with its community. The school is located in the center of one of the oldest developed areas of Bristol, Tennessee. The Anderson School community has been identified as a Weed and Seed Grant area of Bristol. This program is federally funded based on the demographics of the neighborhood, including, the rate of unemployment, poverty status, crime, and aging population as compared to citywide numbers. Other community programs include the Boys’ and Girls’ Club, Girls Inc., the YMCA after school programs, and the city’s Leisure Services sports programs.
Student Characteristics
The Bristol Tennessee City Schools serve approximately 3,722 children from pre-Kindergarten through grade twelve. There are six elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school in Bristol. Anderson is the home school for 330 students. Overall, our population’s demographics are that 89.6% of our students are Caucasian, 7.5% are African American, 1.6% are Hispanic, and 1.3% are Asian. Also, 50.6% of the total population is male students, and 49.4% of this population is female. Of our males, 88.7% are Caucasian, 8.3% are African American, 1.2% are Hispanic, and 1.8% are Asian. Of our female students, 90.8% are Caucasian, 6.7% are black, 2.2% are Hispanic, and 0.3% are Asian.
As indicated in the State Report Card data 62.4% of our school population is considered economically disadvantaged. Current data show that 206 of our students qualify for free or reduced price lunch. From our student population, 11.8% is classified as students with disabilities. Overall, behavior and discipline at Anderson is good with only 14.5% of the population referred to the office. Attendance and Promotion Rates at Anderson are considered "in good standing" by the state, meeting and exceeding the established standards for the past three years. Our average attendance rate is approximately 94%, with the promotion rate at an average of 98%, with the state standards being 93% and 97% respectively. Grade distribution is as follows: Kindergarten has 49 students, first grade has 44 students, second grade has 51 students, third grade has 42 students, fourth grade has 48 students, fifth grade has 37 students, and sixth grade has 63 students.
Anderson Elementary School provides bus transportation to and from school for the students although parents and caregivers transport many of our children. A significant portion of our population does live within walking distance of the school, and some of our children walk to and from the building daily. There are four buses serving our school. Children attending the after school program at the Boys’ and Girl’s Club are transported by the buses, as the locations are along the bus routes. The YMCA after school program sends a van to pick up its participants. Many students participate in after school tutoring and America’s Promise that use our facilities.
Staff Characteristics
Presently, one principal and one part-time guidance counselor serve Anderson’s students. Dr. Tracey Crowe joined Anderson’s staff as our new principal in the spring of 2005. In February 2006, the additional services of one full-time counselor for kindergarten through third grades, and a part time counselor for fourth through sixth grades will begin serving our students as part of the FINE project (Family Involvement, Network of Excellence) a grant funded program. There are eighteen regular classroom teachers, one part time Title I teacher, two full-time Title I teachers, a full-time librarian, a full-time physical education instructor, a part-time music education instructor, and a part-time art instructor. Anderson houses one full-time special education instructor, and one part-time. The school system hires physical and occupational therapists to serve our students with those particular needs. The school’s support staff includes one secretary, one bookkeeper, one nurse, 24 educational assistants, a cafeteria staff of five people, one day porter and a nightly custodial staff.
Our staff is comprised of 67 professionals, 8.9% of whom are males, and 91.1% of which are females. 22% of our staff has worked three years or less in this system. 13% of our staff has worked between four and nine years, 31% of our staff have been in the system from ten to twenty years, and 34% of our staff have worked over twenty-one years for the Bristol Tennessee City Schools. 47% of our teachers have their Bachelor’s Degree, 38% have their Master’s Degree, 9% have degrees that are Master’s plus hours, and 6% have a specialist’s degree.
Anderson’s staff and stakeholder representatives serve on school improvement teams throughout each year. These teams meet regularly to discuss the educational, instructional, and organizational environment of the school. Under the direction of the leadership team, six component teams have addressed goals based on a collection of data that include TerraNova scores, the National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE) surveys, Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS), the State Report Card, as well as issues that arise from staff, parents, students, and the community.
Anderson’s staff recognizes the importance of communication between the home and school. A few of these correspondences include report cards, which are distributed each six-weeks, interim reports, at the midpoint of each six weeks, system-wide newsletters, the school’s webpage, as well as planned parent-teacher conference days.

School and Facility Characteristics
Anderson’s historical information begins with the facility’s construction in 1954. More recently, a Fine Arts Wing was added in 2001. Another wing, adding classrooms and restrooms, was added in 2002 bringing Anderson up to a total of 26 classrooms. The pupil-teacher ratio at Anderson is 18.3 students per one classroom teacher. That number is comparable to the Basic Education Plan (BEP) guidelines with an emphasis on small student numbers in kindergarten and first grade. The students attend a school-year that is approximately 180 days, and the school day is a seven hour day, beginning at 8:00am and dismissing at 3:00pm.
Students are skill-grouped among the classroom teachers for content areas, and attend their special area classes of art, physical education, music, and library with their homeroom classes. Anderson students attend physical education twice a week. Our students also attend a computer lab session once a week. The computer to student ratio is 1:3.5. The amount of money allocated per pupil by the Bristol Tennessee City Schools Board of Education and the State of Tennessee is $111.21. The operating expenses budget is approximately $26,000. This amount does not include Title I monies, maintenance expenses or teacher salaries.
Anderson Elementary School is Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accredited.
The instructional program at Anderson Elementary School is based on Bristol Tennessee City School’s curriculum alignment document. Our instructional program includes many programs, some of which are: a fully skill-grouped student sets from kindergarten through the sixth grade, a curriculum that is aligned with the TerraNova tests, an entire staff trained in Thinking Maps, as well as holistic writing and scoring, and an SRA Corrective Reading program for third through sixth grades. Anderson also uses the Accelerated Reading program school-wide. The Individual Education Program (IEP) addresses our special needs students. Extended contracts are routinely used for remediation of skills with those students who show a need. Students first through sixth grade participate in the TerraNova test each spring.
Anderson is held to system and state standards for all of our formal assessments. In academic achievement the minimum state standard is that the average score for a school will be equal to or above the national average. The Bristol Tennessee City School’s standard is that the average score for a school will be 55% or higher. The requirement for writing proficiency is the writing score should be equal to, or greater than a score of 4.0 on a scale of 0.0 to 6.0. The minimum state standard for TVAAS value added is zero. Bristol Tennessee City School’s standard is to have a gain of zero or higher.
Parent/Guardian Demographics
The 2005 NSSE Parent Opinion Inventory responses showed the following demographic information of a sampling of our school population. One hundred parents surveyed were completed. The highest educational level accomplished by the parents surveyed was 7.0% having not completed high school, 26% completed high school, 29% completed some college, 13% obtained an Associate’s Degree, 9% had their Bachelor’s Degree, and 2% had a Graduate Degree or higher. Fourteen percent of the parents gave no response. Of those who responded, 83% where White, with 1% respondents from other ethnic groups. Of the parents who participated, 81% were females and 8% were males, with 11% having no response.
As part of our continued focus on improving communication between the school and home, opinion inventories were also given to 29 teachers and 95 students to gain valuable information regarding our school’s programming. The following results were derived from the parent responses of the survey.
Areas of strength according to the parent survey were as follows: 88.8% of our parents believed that teachers hold high expectations for learning, 88.8% felt that the education offered to their children was of high quality, 94% of parents believed that our school does a good job teach mathematics, 93% are satisfied with Anderson School as a whole, and 91.9% of parents surveyed feel welcome at the school. Areas that need to be strengthened would be as follows; 47% of parents feel there is a problem of bullying here at the school, 32.3% of parents feel that the school is not preparing the students to deal with issues and problems they will face in the future, and 66% of parents were not influenced by the quality of Anderson Elementary School’s program for the decision to live in this community.
Anderson Elementary School’s parental support is crucial to the well being of the total school program. The Parent Involvement Coordinator communicates with parents, teachers and students, makes regular home visits, coordinates community programs (such as Santa Pal, and the community clothing closets). The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) holds monthly meetings where parents and teachers can meet in a more informal setting to communicate on the school’s climate overall. Parents volunteer at Anderson in several capacities including assisting with monthly PTA programs, distributing books for the Reading is Fundamental (RIF) program, helping with individual classroom activities, and assisting with the Book Fair. Further, many parents serve as mentors tutoring small groups of students in the lower grades. Several students from the high school and local colleges mentor Anderson Elementary School children.

FORM 1.3.2 Other Data Sources (including surveys)
(Rubric 1.3)
Data Source Relevant Findings
NSSE Student Opinion Inventory,
administered, October 2005 The statements students at Anderson Elementary School were most in agreement with, according to the NSSE survey were:
"My teachers tell us the school rules."
"I am able to take part in many things at school, such as music, plays and sports."
"My teachers want students to learn."
NSSE Student Opinion Inventory
administered, October 2005 The statements students at Anderson Elementary School disagreed more than any others on the survey were:
"There are no problems with bullies in our school."
"I use a computer to help me learn."
"I am given homework that helps me learn in school."
NSSE Teacher Opinion Inventory
administered, October 2005 The statements instructional staff at Anderson Elementary School were most in agreement with, according to the NSSE survey were:
"The education offered to students at our school is of high quality."
"The curriculum at our school is based on clearly defined learning standards."
"Teachers are involved in making important decisions that impact the quality of the teaching and learning process."
NSSE Teacher Opinion Inventory
administered, October 2005 The statements that instructional staff at Anderson Elementary School disagreed more than any others on the survey were:
"There are no problems with bullies at our school."
"Students are respectful of school and community property."
"Our school’s facilities are adequate to support students’ learning needs."

School Improvement Plan, Continued