Cokie Gaich

CORE II/ED 299

School Analysis Paper
Northview Middle School

Northview Midde School is one of two middle schools located within the

Washington Township School District, serving 786 students in grades six through eight.

Like every school, Northview Middle School is affected by the district and the

community of people they serve, while following their mission statement and vision. This

school analysis paper will explore how the school meets their goals in serving their

community and how the community in turn affects the school.

Northview Middle School shares a mission statement with all of Washington

Township schools. They strive to develop life-long learners and globally minded

citizens through academics and social skills in a multi-cultural environment (MSDWT).

This mission statement is achieved through the International Baccalaureate Program

(IB) and the extensive list of extracurriculars offered to the students. Washington

Township is a fully authorized IB school district and the only district in Indiana to offer

the IB program to all K-12 students. At Northview Middle School they are provided with

the Middle Years Program (MYP) designed for student in grades six through ten. This

program focuses on developing the child as a whole through academic challenges that

go beyond the classroom and creating engaged citizens within their community.

Through the IB mission statement, there is also a large emphasis on understanding

other cultures and people and how we can learn and appreciate the differences in our

global community. Northview is able to achieve this through some of their exploratory

classes offered to students each semester. These exploratory classes focus on the arts,

languages, and technology, giving the students an option to discover new interests,

cultures, and appreciation every semester. Northview Middle School also offers a wide
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range of extracurricular opportunities including sports, African American and Hispanic

Honors Society, Art clubs, the Falcon News Network, Washington Township Special

Olympics and so much more. With each extracurricular, the students are able to learn

new skills and experiences that will go on to shape their view of their community and

how they will strive to improve their community (Northview Middle School).

Northviews student population is 41.6% Black/African American, 28.2%

Hispanic, 17.4% White/Caucasian, 6.7% Asian, and 6% multiracial (IDOE: Compass).

Overall, the school appears to have a diverse student body, which Washington

Township schools emphasize in all of their schools. However, these demographics dont

reflect the demographics of the community as, Marion country is 60.9%

White/Caucasian, and does not have a large Black/African American population in the

school community (Overview of Washington Township). This being said, 72% of

students at Northview Middle School are on free and reduced lunch, while this isnt

reflective of the community it is reflective of the household income of the majority of

families at Northview (IDOE: Compass)(Overview of Washington Township). The

school also have a 15.3% English as a New Language (ENL) population and a distinct

mission statement for this program. Their ENL program district-wide focuses creating

equal academic and social learning through inquiry based learning and understanding

American culture (MSDWT). An important note is that this mission statement does not

have any emphasis on creating superiority of American culture, but rather embraces the

differences between cultures and is goal oriented so that ENL students can better

understand the culture and practices that maybe different from their own.
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Despite their mission state and values, Northview Middle School has been given

a report card grade of D for the 2016-2017 school year, due to their test scores. In

Mathematics 36.2% of students passed the state assessment and in English/Language

Arts 48.8% passed, both are below the state average. This is congruent with low

passing rates in ISTEP+, where the average passing rate has declined in the past three

years, however Northview has done exceptionally well on the ECA Algebra I exams.

This creates a contrast in achievement levels, especially in Mathematics as 94.7% of

students passed the Algebra I ECA exam. This could be due to how the test was

written, the content of the sections in the two different assessments, and when the

assessment was taken, so the students could have been more prepared for the Math

ECA or had better comprehension of the questions asked on that exam.

Northview Middle School does have their school improvement plan for this

academic year (2017-2018) on their school website and they have specific goals geared

towards testing goals and the IB curriculum. Their school improvement plan also lists

opportunities for students and their families to become more involved in their learning,

such as Family Math and Literacy Night where students, teachers, and parents can

learn new skills and share feedback with the school, allowing the administration to

better serve their community. Northview also offers free afterschool tutoring for students

with a GPA 2.0 and below, and uses different methods and technologies such as Kahn

Academy to help student progress in their coursework. The middle school has many

partnerships within the community to help fund and provide resources for their students.

For example, the First Baptist Church helps students with any physical needs such as

clothing and supplies, while also providing extra support for refugee families. They also
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have a partnership with the Lion Catcher community group that helps the school fund

college visits, tutoring and leadership opportunities for the students.

When visiting the school, one of the administrators informed my class that

Northview had started implementing a new program where all the students would get a

chance to discuss what is happening in their lives, at school and home in a safe space.

This would be done in very small groups of 5-7 students with one faculty member every

week. These groups focus on the common social problems that middle school students

face and strategies to help them overcome their struggles. This is important for the

community because it is the only school in the district at the moment that is trying this

method along with other brain-aligned strategies, and the results are showing with the

overall decrease in suspensions and expulsions at the school. The one issue the

administrator did mention about the program is getting the teachers comfortable and

experienced with talking about difficult subjects, as their experiences may be drastically

different than some of their students.

While Northview Middle School may not seem like a succeeding school through

their report cards and test scores, they are focusing on more than the numbers on

sheets of paper. Northview puts a strong emphasis on creating a safe and inclusive

community for all their students and families and are continuously striving to improve

through the feedback their community gives them. The school administrators know that

if they take care of the immediate needs of the students, socially, emotionally, and

mentally then the test scores will follow in time because one can only achieve their best

in a safe environment where they are appropriately challenged and encouraged.

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Works Cited:

"IDOE: Compass." Compass.doe.in.gov. N.p., 2017. Web. 5 Nov. 2017.

MSDWT. N.p., 2017. Web. 7 Nov. 2017.

"Northview Middle School." Nv.msdwt.k12.in.us. N.p., 2017. Web. 4 Nov. 2017.

"Overview Of Washington Township." Statisticalatlas.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 7 Nov.

2017.