• Attendance Rates
• Numbers of FARMS students
• LEP (Limited English Proficiency) students
• Quarterly Assessments scores - English
• Quarterly Assessments scores - Mathematics
• PARCC Scores - Mathematics (Elementary grades 3, 4, 5)
• PARCC Scores - English/Language Arts (Elementary grades 3, 4, 5)

Key Challenge #3: Attendance Rates

ATTENDANCE

Despite an extensive list of interventions aimed at improving student attendance, this continues to be an area of great concern, as our attendance percentage is 94%. Overall, 58 students missed at least 18 days of school during the 2018-2019 academic year. 

Many factors contribute to our attendance issue. For example, some families are struggling to overcome the many barriers which often accompany poverty. Many of these students rely on bus transportation, and if they miss the bus, there is no other way for them to come to school. Therefore, a lack of transportation negatively impacts attendance. In addition to lack of transportation, insufficient funds to meet basic household obligations or housing itself, mental health challenges, and employment instability may result in a lack of routine and structure within the home. These barriers may add challenges for parents to follow the school schedule. leading to absenteeism and a high rate of tardiness. Student attendance is also impacted by older LEP students needing to accompany their parents to appointments during the school day to serve as translators.  [Indicators 5, 6, 10]

Daily school attendance is necessary for school success. It has been well documented that attendance in elementary school is a reliable indicator of graduation rates among our students. Each absence results in missed instruction, which leads to learning gaps for our students. Students with excessive absences or tardiness struggle to maintain their academic skills. As a school community, we recognize the impact that poor attendance has on student success. Students who begin school as struggling learners continue to struggle without a consistent, supportive academic program. To improve the likelihood of our students successfully graduating from high school, we work closely with our designated Pupil Personnel Worker and continue to work diligently to improve the daily attendance. [Indicators 1, 5, 6, 10]

During the school year, we conducted a school-wide incentive that tracked grade-level attendance. Each week, homerooms that achieved 95% or more of their students present were recognized on the morning announcements.  Every fourth recognition earned the class an extra recess period. At the end of the year, thanks to Patuxent Rotary, students who had perfect attendance were eligible to participate in a raffle where two students won brand new bikes. [Indicators 1, 10]

• Socio-Economic Issues (employment, income levels, housing costs)
• Businesses/Job Market
• Access to transportation
• Limited English proficiency for students and/or families
• Families in Crisis (mental, physical emotional, financial)
• Access to healthcare
• Substance Abuse

Key Challenge #2: Families in Crisis (mental, physical emotional, financial)

Lack of school readiness is detrimental to academic achievement. Research shows that brain development during a child’s first few years of life lays the foundation for later growth and learning capacity. Therefore, early experiences are crucial to academic progress; yet our students often arrive at school with little exposure to vocabulary, literacy, and numeracy. More and more our school families are experiencing significant trauma. The struggle to find adequate housing leads to multiple families living in small houses or trailers, which can lead to many distractions, such as noise from conversation or television, leading to sleep deprivation for our students. It is not uncommon to see students fall asleep in an active classroom due to exhaustion. In addition, poor hygiene and lack of healthy food contribute to students’ academic struggles. [Indicators 1, 5, 6]

Due to the stress caused by these situations, it is not uncommon for parents to turn to drugs and alcohol, which in turn can lead to addiction problems. The lack of both physical and mental healthcare locally is another factor complicating the well-being of our families. The health room in our school becomes their health clinic. We are fortunate to have a Children’s Guild therapist who works directly with many of our families who need support. [Indicators 1, 5, 6, 10]

• Socio-economic community issues (employment, income levels, housing costs)
• Significant changes over time in student/community demographics

     
Key Challenge #1: Significant changes over time in student/community demographics

During the 2018-19 school year, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of students who come to our school speaking little to no English. Many of the parents of these students do not speak English and require a bilingual facilitator or translation service.Teachers try to support English learners as much as they can but often lack the tools necessary to help these students understand the content.  In addition, many English learners are also learning to read and complete math with little or no previous formal education. [Indicators 1, 5, 6]

Poverty is also a growing area of concern in the Tracey’s community. The 2016-2017 MSDE data shows that 43.84% of our students qualified for Free and Reduced Meals (FARMS). While the data indicates an increase in FARMS from the 2016-2017 school year to the present, we believe our FARMS number is actually higher than current data suggests. However, electronic filing creates a barrier for some of our families who lack access to computers and technology and are, therefore, unable to submit their forms. Many of our families struggle to find employment in our local area. The lack of transportation is another major concern that impacts families who are unable to find employment. Poverty impacts many aspects of our students’ lives, and, although we do our best to positively influence students during the short portion of the day they are with us, their home lives also affect their success in the classroom. [Indicators 1, 5, 6, 10]

At Tracey’s, we have seen a large growth of student population. At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, current enrollment was 358 students. At the end of the 2018-2019 school year, student enrollment was 452. Many of our students have attended several schools each year or have inconsistent enrollment in school. For example, we frequently enroll students from Prince George's County during various points of the school year. Students who remain at one school throughout the school year or throughout all of their elementary school years generally meet greater success. Students who move frequently and switch between school systems are not able to reap the benefits of consistency within well-designed instructional programs and may struggle as a result. [Indicators 1, 5, 6, 10]