Great Things Going On Now
I want to begin with a reminder to community and staff members that we have some slots open for the new building walkthrough we have scheduled for this coming Thursday January 26th. There will be two tours, one at 3:45 PM and the next at 4:30 PM. Email me at [email protected] if you are interested in coming along on one of them.
Last week I wrote about the wonderful mid year NWEA growth that was achieved in Haskin Elementary, with most grade level and subject areas not only eclipsing their mid year goal, but also reaching their projected end of year goals.
This week I would like to celebrate the great gains shown in Center High School’s mid year NWEA test results. Center High School Principal Kevin Jones has been keeping a close eye on our mid year math performance because we are in a situation where the curriculum has changed significantly and we have struggled to determine the best way to approach the teaching of high school math. At the beginning of the school year CHS math instructors Diego Martinez and Daniel Newmyer proposed a radically different way to conduct math instruction, focusing on each individual student and where they are in achievement as opposed to providing traditional whole group instruction. They offered to do this while utilizing individualized objectives, individualized pacing, and internet math instruction resources. The mid year result is that average math student performance at all high school grade levels made a full year of growth in just the fall semester! Several individual students even showed growth of two or more years in this time span. Lori Cooper, Center School’s Director of Instruction, reported that for the first time since Center has been taking the NWEA test (at least 10 years) our high school math students are performing collectively at the national average!
Last week I wrote about the wonderful mid year NWEA growth that was achieved in Haskin Elementary, with most grade level and subject areas not only eclipsing their mid year goal, but also reaching their projected end of year goals.
This week I would like to celebrate the great gains shown in Center High School’s mid year NWEA test results. Center High School Principal Kevin Jones has been keeping a close eye on our mid year math performance because we are in a situation where the curriculum has changed significantly and we have struggled to determine the best way to approach the teaching of high school math. At the beginning of the school year CHS math instructors Diego Martinez and Daniel Newmyer proposed a radically different way to conduct math instruction, focusing on each individual student and where they are in achievement as opposed to providing traditional whole group instruction. They offered to do this while utilizing individualized objectives, individualized pacing, and internet math instruction resources. The mid year result is that average math student performance at all high school grade levels made a full year of growth in just the fall semester! Several individual students even showed growth of two or more years in this time span. Lori Cooper, Center School’s Director of Instruction, reported that for the first time since Center has been taking the NWEA test (at least 10 years) our high school math students are performing collectively at the national average!
I’ll share the highlights of Skoglund Middle School’s mid-year NWEA testing next week.
I also want to thank Independent Counselor Katrina Ruggles for the great work she has done in Center High School and Skoglund Middle School establishing a process by which all students complete a plan for what they will do after high school. Earlier this year Katrina and the Middle-High Building Leadership Team proposed that Early Release Staff Professional Learning Communities days be used to support student completion of ICAP plans, and since then Katrina has singlehandedly drawn up lesson plans to be administered by instructors to small groups of students on these days. Based on my observation the plans are great and our kids are truly beginning to think about what they will do with their lives when they leave school. Research clearly shows that the earlier kids start to think about college the more likely they are to attend and experience success whole there. Thanks Katrina, for getting our kids to begin planning for college as early as 6th grade!
Finally, I would like to thank Haskin Elementary Principal Kathy Kulp and Skoglund Middle School Principal Carrie Zimmerman for the number and quality of teacher walkthrough observations they have already completed this semester. Each have conducted approximately 20 classroom visits and provided wonderful feedback about what teachers have been doing well and what they might think about doing to improve their instruction for kids. I know this is hard work but it really causes teachers to reflect on how they can better meet the needs of their students.
I also want to thank Independent Counselor Katrina Ruggles for the great work she has done in Center High School and Skoglund Middle School establishing a process by which all students complete a plan for what they will do after high school. Earlier this year Katrina and the Middle-High Building Leadership Team proposed that Early Release Staff Professional Learning Communities days be used to support student completion of ICAP plans, and since then Katrina has singlehandedly drawn up lesson plans to be administered by instructors to small groups of students on these days. Based on my observation the plans are great and our kids are truly beginning to think about what they will do with their lives when they leave school. Research clearly shows that the earlier kids start to think about college the more likely they are to attend and experience success whole there. Thanks Katrina, for getting our kids to begin planning for college as early as 6th grade!
Finally, I would like to thank Haskin Elementary Principal Kathy Kulp and Skoglund Middle School Principal Carrie Zimmerman for the number and quality of teacher walkthrough observations they have already completed this semester. Each have conducted approximately 20 classroom visits and provided wonderful feedback about what teachers have been doing well and what they might think about doing to improve their instruction for kids. I know this is hard work but it really causes teachers to reflect on how they can better meet the needs of their students.
The Past Week
This past week Center Schools submitted its 2011-12 Unified Improvement Plan to the Colorado Department of Education, the Haskin Elementary Building Leadership Team held a very productive meeting that brought about the creation of several minor action plans for improvement in the building, mid-year Principal evaluations were conducted with each building leader, and the Center Schools Administrative Team met with Monte Vista School District Administrators in Professional Learning Community format to refine their abilities to review teacher lesson plans for quality lesson objectives and demonstrations of learning.
In addition to this, the Center Schools Administrative Team began a Book Study aimed at providing more tools for administrators to support teachers in engaging all students in instruction, and many district administrators and teachers met to work out a way to provide feedback to the Colorado Department of Education about the new teacher evaluation process designed as a result of Senate Bill 191 in the spring of 2010.
On Friday I also made a Denver and back run to participate in the Colorado Association of School Executives Legislative Committee meeting where we reviewed many bills and voted to take positions on several of them.
In addition to this, the Center Schools Administrative Team began a Book Study aimed at providing more tools for administrators to support teachers in engaging all students in instruction, and many district administrators and teachers met to work out a way to provide feedback to the Colorado Department of Education about the new teacher evaluation process designed as a result of Senate Bill 191 in the spring of 2010.
On Friday I also made a Denver and back run to participate in the Colorado Association of School Executives Legislative Committee meeting where we reviewed many bills and voted to take positions on several of them.
Big Things We Are Working On
We are looking forward to receiving our mid year elementary, middle school, and high school reports from our Transformation Partner Focal Point. Once these are received we will share this information to staff and community members through this venue.
The Center Schools Board of Education is still in the process of collecting information for my annual performance evaluation. This information will be reported to me at our regular meeting on February 13th.
Finally, we expect to spend a lot of time this week creating an adjusted mid-year district budget based on more accurate revenue projections and actual spending patterns to this point.
The Center Schools Board of Education is still in the process of collecting information for my annual performance evaluation. This information will be reported to me at our regular meeting on February 13th.
Finally, we expect to spend a lot of time this week creating an adjusted mid-year district budget based on more accurate revenue projections and actual spending patterns to this point.
Construction News
The process for making decisions about room and office furnishings is now in full swing. The district administration building was powered down this weekend to allow time for the Center Utility Department to provide full power connectivity to our new building. Beautiful skylights have been installed at the top of each east side instructional wing staircase and I must say they let in a tremendous amount of light to both the upper and lower floors. At Wednesday’s core construction group meeting we were also told the elevator will be installed during the week of January 30th.
I want to notify the staff and community that on or around February 13th a new installation of perimeter fencing will be put in place around the current varsity gymnasium to create a safety zone for the demolition of that structure. This will eliminate access to the wrestling room at this time and people will no longer be able to park in the area to the west of the middle school, north of the 2000 class wing and east of the still standing gym. The only automobile access that will be available in the back of the school at this point will be along the fence line bordering the irrigation canal to the north side of the 2000 class wing to where the preschool has been temporarily relocated. There will also be a few parking spaces for administrative office staff and vocational education personnel to the west and south of the vocational building.
I want to notify the staff and community that on or around February 13th a new installation of perimeter fencing will be put in place around the current varsity gymnasium to create a safety zone for the demolition of that structure. This will eliminate access to the wrestling room at this time and people will no longer be able to park in the area to the west of the middle school, north of the 2000 class wing and east of the still standing gym. The only automobile access that will be available in the back of the school at this point will be along the fence line bordering the irrigation canal to the north side of the 2000 class wing to where the preschool has been temporarily relocated. There will also be a few parking spaces for administrative office staff and vocational education personnel to the west and south of the vocational building.
Our Core Beliefs
Center Schools Core Belief number 1 states, “Our purpose is to increase academic achievement for ALL students.”
This week in our Monte-Center Administrative PLC we were reminded how important it is for teachers to effectively plan the lessons they will be instructing, with high quality objectives and ways to measure what was achieved each day through effective demonstrations of learning. We were also reminded that not every district has arrived at a point where teachers routinely produce these plans on a weekly basis, and accept constructive feedback from administrators to make them better.
If our purpose is truly to increase academic achievement for ALL students, it is clear that our teachers in the Center School District live up to this belief by accepting the personal responsibility to effectively plan for this increased academic achievement on a weekly basis. By the time I go to bed tonight I and all our Building Principals will have received, via email, a detailed plan as to how each teacher will approach the increase of student achievement in the coming week. This kind of effort is not put forth by teachers in every school district and I know that many of you spend a lot of time during the weekend to meet this deadline. Thanks for proving your dedication to increase academic achievement for ALL students by doing this!
The Week Ahead
Among many other things this week we will have a multiple day site visit by our Lindamood-Bell partners, I will attend the Colorado Education Association-Colorado Association of School Boards-Colorado Association of School Executives Anchor Group meeting in Denver, we will be meeting with Center Utility Department staff about forthcoming construction utility needs, we will meet with our lawyer about an upcoming Secure Rural Schools funding arbitration process with the Saguache County, I will attend the Southern Colorado Superintendents Regional meeting in Pueblo, we will work with Del Norte School District administrators to plan to apply for a combined 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant, we will offer construction site tours and many of the Valley school districts will be meeting in Alamosa on Friday to discuss how we might pool Race to the Top dollars for the benefit of all SLV children.
Extra Points
I have created a video page on this Keeping Our Focus website and in honor of our visit by Lindamood-Bell partners I am posting a video that was made about their partnership with Haskin Elementary School.
We received the wonderful opportunity to work with the folks from Lindamood-Bell through our Haskin Elementary School Transformation Grant. This has allowed many of our staff members to be trained in processes that help us intervene with students who are reading below grade level and support reading instruction in the regular classroom by utilizing specific LMB techniques. No doubt many of the gigantic leaps shown through mid-year NWEA testing are the result of our faithful implementation of this process. Children simply need to be able to read well to perform well at any task.
We hope to continue our relationship with Lindamood-Bell beyond our Transformation Grant. Through a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant we are applying for, we seek to partner with Lindamood-Bell to spread their techniques throughout the Center community and create an “Army of Reading Interventionists”.
If you are reading this version of Keeping Our Focus as an email, please look below for a link to this Haskin/Lindamood-Bell partnership video. If you are on the Keeping Our Focus website simply click this link to view the video.
Thanks for once again listening and have another great week.
George