Happy New Year! I hope you have been enjoying the fun outdoor activities all this snow is affording us. Reading a good novel near a crackling fire is another wonderful pleasure of winter in Maine. I imagine we will certainly be ready for spring to arrive this year.
This fall I shared student achievement data with our Board of Directors. After speaking with several parents since that time, the consensus is that you may be interested in seeing some of that data as well. Our Board of Directors has goals for student achievement on the MEA in Language Arts and Math for all three grade levels as well as for writing in grade eight. Below please see these BOD goals and how we are progressing toward them.
1. At least 70% of students will be meeting standards on the MEA in Language Arts by 2009
6th grade |
83% are meeting and exceeding standards in 2007 |
7th grad |
82% are meeting and exceeding standards in 2007 |
8th grade |
85% are meeting and exceeding standards in 2007 |
2. By 2008-2009, 75% of students in grades 3-8 will meet or exceed standards on the MEA in Math
6th grade |
73% are meeting and exceeding standards in 2007 |
7th grade |
77% are meeting and exceeding standards in 2007 |
8th grade |
78% are meeting and exceeding standards in 2007 |
3. At least 75% of students will be meeting or exceeding standards on the MEA in writing by 2009.
8th Grade MEA Writing |
76% are meeting and exceeding in 2007 |
We continue to look at data from a variety of sources in an ongoing way to inform us of how our programs are meeting our goal of supporting and improving student learning and achievement. Our students' MEA scores place us in the top ten schools in our state. Our 2008 MEA testing will occur in March and we will have those results this coming summer.
I was able to attend a function recently in which Robert Kennedy, President of UMO, was speaking. I asked him what he sees in incoming freshman - are there areas or skills that stand out as needing improvement? When we think in terms of pre-K-12 education, how can we better prepare our students for college and beyond? Dr. Kennedy's first response was that he feels students would benefit from more support in writing effectively. His response reinforces our focus on writing. Our professional development this year includes learning opportunities for teachers around literacy instruction across content areas and its far-reaching benefits for all students.
Our school-wide goals this year include literacy, math, and technology integration. Content area teachers are collaborating to develop a common assessment each trimester. They anchor and score these assessments together and look at this student data to inform instruction. This gives teachers more immediate, course-specific data than the MEA can offer and allows teachers the opportunity to reflect on practice and student achievement in a timely way.
I was able to see this literacy focus in action recently. Penny and I do a series of formal and informal classroom observations every year. I visited ten classes informally right before winter break. In all of these classes I observed engaged students demonstrating good thinking. In half of these classes students were participating in reading and/or writing. In conversations with teachers, I know how committed to literacy we are. It was good to see this in my classroom visits as well.
We are now in our fourth year in this beautiful new building. This is a good time to look at some of our structures and practices to see if they are fulfilling the promise of effective student support as planned. This year we are reviewing our grading and reporting system, our schedule, and how our neighborhood structure is working for students. Thank you to those who participated in our grading and reporting survey. Our GMS Leadership Council is in the process of looking at that data from parents, students and teachers.
January 24th marked the second meeting of the 6-12 Modern and Classical Languages Task Force. We are looking at what we currently do, learning together, and will end up making recommendations to our Board around how we would like to improve our MCL programming. Christy Brown, Assistant Superintendent of Glastonbury Schools, worked with us on the key components of an excellent MCL program: common curriculum and assessments, time for teachers to study the student achievement data to inform instruction, use of the target language in classes, and a long sequence offering students the opportunity to invest in long-term study of another language. Christy made a strong case for the importance of MCL in helping students to develop metacognitive skills while supporting literacy and other
curriculum in the school as well.
You will soon be asked to participate in our Performance Data Survey. All of our staff and students will take this survey. This data will be used to inform us of how we are doing and areas we want to consider for improvement. Thank you for taking the time to give us this valuable feedback.
I believe that our school, our parents and guardians, and our community must partner to support all of our students in learning. We are all working toward the same goal: "to encourage and support students in the pursuit of their personal bests by addressing the unique academic, emotional, physical and social needs of this age group." (GMS Mission) Thank you for your ongoing commitment to our partnership and your support of our work at GMS.
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