School Improvement Plan Goals

Please Note that plans for the 2019-2020 School Improvelment Plan Goal are in the process of being developed and will be posted as soon as they are available. 

Converse Elementary is one of ten schools across the state have received $25,000 grants to showcase successful practices that improve student achievement. 

Each of the 10 schools was a previous Title I Spotlight School. They received the 2015-16 grant for success in the area of teaching and learning as well as one of the other five areas of effective schools practices: decision making and accountability; family, school and community partnerships; leadership and governance; professional development and teacher quality; or vision, values, culture and climate. Schools receiving grants are eligible for Title I funding, a federal grant program designed to give educational assistance to students living in areas of high poverty. 

 “These schools all have a record of increasing academic performance for students from low-income families,” said State Superintendent Tony Evers. “Opening their doors to other schools, becoming a school for schools so to speak, will advance our efforts to close achievement gaps and ensure every child graduates college and career ready.” Grants cover expenses related to travel, substitute teachers, and materials to share effective practices with three visiting school teams during the 2015-16 school year. Additional grant funds are used to support continuous school improvement in the Spotlight School. 

Visiting school teams typically have the opportunity to directly observe classroom instruction, collaboration meetings, and intervention groups as well has hear presentations on topics such as using data to drive instruction or how a school’s vision can support common planning time, exploratory classes, and behavioral expectations. Visiting school teams also have opportunities to interact with Spotlight School staff. One visiting teacher wrote that the time spent visiting her host school was more beneficial than any workshop that she had attended in the last five years. “To be able to ask professional educators what is working or not working and to learn from their procedures was huge,” she said. 

The Department of Public Instruction has awarded Spotlight School grants to 33 schools since the program began in the 2011-12 school year. Those schools have hosted more than 1,050 visitors from 174 Wisconsin schools. 

For more information about visiting Converse Elementary under the Spotlight Program please contact Vicky Hamilton, Principal, vhamilton@sdb.k12.wi.us .