Section 1: Profile

A. Executive Summary

Introduction:

In this section of our school improvement plan an overview of student performance data, student and community demographics data, school characteristics, and stakeholder perspectives on the quality of education is provided in Section A. A summary of the major sets of data within each of these categories is outlined in Section B with tables and figures.

1. Student Performance Data

State mandated End-of-Course field tests were given in English 1 and Algebra 1(CP) during the 2002-2003 school year and in English 1, Algebra 1 (CP), and Physical Science in the 2003-2004 school year. The results of these tests are located in Figure A. In 02-03 test results for the English EOC were never released and in 03-04 science EOC results were never released. These were field test and were not used in student grade calculations. Otherwise these test grades will count 20% of the final yearly average.

Every student is required to take the HSAP their 2^nd year of high school. In 2002-2003 we had 2 students to take the test. In 2003-2004 we had 13 students to repeat the 9^th grade that had to take the test in 03-04 and in 2004-2005 we plan to test 18 students. The results of the 2003-2004 results are located in Figure B. Before we tested, we felt it was extremely important to remediate these students. We pulled them from elective classes and put them in extra English and math classes. It is very important to us that all of our students pass HSAP on the first try and not have the pressure on them as they move on to the high school. The 8^th grade PACT scores for the 2004-2005 class is given in Figure C.

Boiling Springs High School-9^th Grade Campus had 18 students to make the Principal’s Honor Roll for the first semester in 2003-2004 and 26 to make it in 2004-2005. This was an extremely difficult task in that many of these students who made all A’s are taking as many as 3 honor classes. These students were rewarded by being treated to lunch at Pizza Inn. There were also 88 to make the A/B Honor Roll in 2003-2004 and 98 to make it in 2004-2005. These students were given gift certificates sponsored by The Sonic Restaurant in Boiling Springs.

2. Student and Community Demographic Data

The community that it is today known as Boiling Springs is so named because of a pool of water there which for centuries has gurgled to earth a rushing spring flow. A monument in honor of the spring can be found in the Bi-Lo shopping center located off of Highway 9 in Boiling Springs. This is a relatively small community with many locally owned businesses. Farming was the main occupation in the area in the past, though some small businesses did exist. Farms are still common in the area, but they are being replaced by new housing and businesses. It is hard to find a stretch of land any more that is not under development for some reason. Over the past 10 years it has grown more commercialized and this has put the “mom and pop stores” out of business. It is referred to as “bedroom community” because more subdivisions and apartment complexes are being developed at a very fast rate. Most families work outside the community within the county. This does create a great deal of traffic in the morning and afternoon commutes. The socio-economic status has definitely changed as these modernizations have occurred. More income is being produced by the community and by the businesses that have moved in and it has become a more main-stream community than the rural setting that used to exist. Update census information about the community is provided in Table A.

The exact date of the founding of the first school in Boiling Springs is not known, but records of Boiling Springs First Baptist Church indicate that the church building was used as a school as early as the 1790’s. The actual first school building was constructed in 1871, and during the 1890’s, a two-story school building was built on the property where Boiling Springs First Baptist Church is today. In 1914, a local pastor donated half of his annual salary, $200, to the trustees for the building of a new school near the present location of the Spartanburg County District 2 Schools Maintenance Offices. This school served all grades until a separate high school was built to house grades seven through eleven in 1941. This building is presently Boiling Springs Middle School. A new high school was built in 1958, the present Boiling Springs High School 9^th Grade Campus, to serve the 600 students that were enrolled in grades seven through twelve. With integration in the 1960s and 1970s, a bigger high school was needed. That school, the current Boiling Springs High School, opened in 1978. A new elementary school opened at the beginning of the 2003 school year in order to ease crowding at Boiling Springs Elementary School. Overall the district is comprised of seven elementary schools, two middle schools, one junior high, one ninth grade campus, and two high schools. A break down of the 9^th grade student population and growth, ethnic and gender make-up is located in Table B.

3. School Characteristics

Many of our students participate in extra-curricula activities such as fine arts, clubs, and sports. Our band has ranked in the top 5 in the state for the past several years and is composed of many freshmen. The winter guard, and the high school chorus is made up of many 9^th graders as well. The high school orchestra is made up of more 9^th graders than any other class. All in all, our 9^th grade students make up a very important part of all 3 of these fine arts program.

We also have a strong student government that is composed of 14 outstanding young people, led by Mrs. Cindy Holland and Mr. Trent Hardee who helps out with various civic events, assemblies, and student activities. They are elected by their peers and they serve for the entire school year. We also have a very active Key Club that does special things out in our community. Among those things are entertaining elderly people in nursing homes, hospitals, and helps to raise money for charity organizations such as March of Dimes. Key club also offers a peer mentoring program and a secret’s angel program for each faculty member. Mrs. Thompson sponsors the Key Club. Our FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, is also available to any 9^th grader who chooses to join, not just athletes. They meet every Thursday morning at 7:30 in the library. Ms. Murray, our sponsor, is very active in FCA and has our students doing lots of fun activities.

There were 89 students to join the Beta Club in 2004 and 127 invited to join in 2005. In order to be invited to join the Beta Club our students must make a 3.75 out of a possible 4.0. These students have the opportunity to continue being a part of Beta Club throughout their high school career provided they maintain a 3.75. We have an induction ceremony in February to induct our new members. Many parents attend this program to see their child receive their pin and certificate.

Athletics is a very important part of our extra-curricula activities. Our students have about 20 different sports that they can choose from. In the fall we offer football for the boys, volleyball, cheerleading, and tennis for girls, and cross country for both. With the exception of football, all the others participate at the high school. The 9^th Grade Campus has its’ own football program made up of entirely 9^th graders. During the winter, we offer basketball to both girls and boys. In the spring, there are many different sports our students have to choose from including baseball, softball, tennis, track, golf, soccer. All of these sports have both varsity and J.V. teams. We have an outstanding group of coaches who are well qualified and do an exceptional job of teaching and coaching our young men and women to show good sportsmanship regardless of the outcome of an athletic event. It is encouraged for the 9th grade students to become involved in some extra-curricular activity. This opportunity allows them to become more well-rounded students.

All of our students are able to fulfill 6 required courses consisting of English, algebra, physical science, world geography, physical education, and computer tech. If one chose to take an elective, he/she could take Spanish, band, chorus, or orchestra. The school does offer three tracks for students, TP (tech prep), CP (college prep), and Honors. There are two tracks for special education students as well. There is the diploma track where the students are mainstreamed in all classes and have one resources class daily and then there is the certificate track where the students are only mainstreamed in geography, science and elective classes. This school does have a traditional schedule with six class periods that meet all year long. Each class period is an hour long and there are two 30 minute lunches.

Our school is made up of some of the most dedicated teachers and staff members working daily helping our students to grow intellectually and socially. They continue to motivate and encourage our students to set high goals and then help and make sure they accomplish them. The memories that our students make with their teachers will always be remembered. Table C contains data about our teacher demographics by race, gender, and age as well as years of experience and percentage of teachers with advanced degrees. Overall though there are 33 certified teachers at this school, one principal, one assistant principal, one media specialist, one resource officer and one guidance counselor and 2 teacher aid positions. We have 24 full time teachers and 9 teachers that are shared between others schools in our district. The principal of this school was an assistant principal at the high school for approximately 13 years. The assistant principal was a teacher for more than 20 years at the high school and an assistant principal for three years. Majority of the teachers that are employed at this school volunteered to leave the high school to work at the ninth grade school. Out of the 33 faculty members 25 taught at the high school and only six are new to the district or school.

Because of the 575 students that we have, two lunch periods is a necessity. On an average we have about 400 students eat lunch daily. Out of that 178 have free lunch and 40 have reduced lunch. Ann Wolfe, our cafeteria manager, does a remarkable job of taking care of the nutrition of our students. She goes out of her way to provide personalized salads for anyone who fills out a certain form each morning. From a list of things like tomatoes, bacon bits, cucumbers, raisons, and etc. Students check what they like and the cafeteria staff prepares a salad with each child’s name on it. This is just an example where Ann and her staff show that they really care for our students.

Safety is always a major concern in any public school and it is certainly a concern at our school as well. In every staff meeting we have, we always address safety concerns. From drug dog searches, to fire drills, to lock downs, to intruder drills, we are very conscientious that our number one priority every day is the safety and protection of our students and staff. We keep all exterior doors in our building locked except 2 that we use continually. We employ a full time resource officer, Todd Waddell, who works closely with our students and just his presence in our building helps prevent a lot of problems from occurring.

Attendance and tardies is something we are constantly brainstorming and seeking advice from other schools and districts throughout the state. Only a few things are graded on our school report and attendance is one of them. Our daily student attendance is 95% and we are always stressing how important attendance is to student performance. We offer gift certificates again from other restaurants in the area for those who have perfect attendance for each nine weeks period. We will continue this and also do something similar incentives to help improve tardies.

Through the efforts of a hard working faculty, staff, PTSO, and School Improvement Council Boiling Springs High School-9^th Grade is always striving to ensure that our students’ needs are met and they all receive a quality education. Our district is well known across the state as one of the best school districts around. It’s a pleasure to serve the people in our community and our goal is to always make next year the best.

4. Stakeholder Perspectives on the Quality of Education

To determine the stakeholder perspectives on the quality of education at the 9^th Grade Campus of Boiling Springs High School, the Needs Assessment Survey from the State Department of Education was consulted for both the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 school years.

Number of surveys returned 03-04	Teachers 25	Parents 299	Students 449
% Satisfied with the learning environment	100 %	80.6 %	69.4 %
% Satisfied with social and physical environment	75.8 %	74.1 %	73.6 %
% satisfied with home-school relations	95.5 %	59.9 %	81.9 %

B. Report of the Profile Data

The data collected for the profile is summarized in the following tables and figures:

Figure A: Student Performance on End of Course Examination

Figure B: Student Performance on High School Assessment Program

Figure C: Student Performance on 8^th grade PACT

Table A: Community Demographic Data

Table B: Student Characteristic Data

Table C: School Characteristic Data

Figure A: Student Performance on End of Course Examination

Figure B: Student Performance on High School Assessment Program

Figure C: Student Performance on 8^th grade PACT

Table A: Community Demographic Data

Census 2000 Demographic Profile

General Characteristics	Number	Percent
Total Population	15,018	100
Male	7,475	49.8
Female	7,543	50.2
Population by Race	15,018	100
White	13,473	89.7
African American	1,012	6.7
American Indian	20	.1
Asian	294	2
Pacific Islander	5	0
Other	73	.5
Mixed Races	141	.9
Urban & Rural Population	15,155	100
Urban	13,137	86.7
Rural	2,018	13.3
Marital Status (15 years and over)	11,725	100
Never Married	2,314	19.7
Now Married	7,688	65.6
Widowed	624	5.3
Divorced	1,099	9.4
Linguistically Isolated Households	5,595	100
English	5,275	94.3
Spanish	199	3.6
Indo-European	95	1.7
Asian/Pacific Island	18	.3
Other	8	.1
Household Income	5,595	100
Less than $10,000	305	5.5
$10,000 - $14,999	234	4.2
$15,000 - $24,999	634	11.3
$25,000 - $34,999	804	14.4
$35,000 - $49,999	966	17.3
$50,000 - $59,000	667	11.9
$60,000 - $74,999	820	14.7
$75,000 - $99,999	695	12.4
$100,000 - $124,999	279	5
$125,000 - $149,999	113	2
$150,000 or more	78	1.4
Households	5,600	100
Family Households	4,428	79.1
One-person Households	969	17.3
Other Nonfamily Households	203	3.6

Table B: Student Characteristic Data

School Year	2002-2003	2003-2004	2004-2005
Student Enrollment	460	521	568
Ethnic Background
White	358	389	427
African American	68	66	64
Hispanic	12	15	26
Russian	8	22	23
Asian	14	29	28
Gender Background
Male	220	274	289
Female	240	247	279

Table C: School Characteristic Data

School Year	2004-2005
Average Class Size	24.2
Faculty Ethnic Background
White	37
African American	3
Faculty Gender
Male	18
Female	22
Other Characteristics
Average Years of Experience	15
Percent with Advanced Degrees	53%