Thoughts On a Great First Week

...and what a busy week it has been!  I was impressed (and not the least bit surprised) by the dedication and enthusiasm I saw on display this week.  It was a pleasure for me to be in buildings, meet new people and see Comet Pride in action!  I was particularly proud to see teachers leading teachers during the PD sessions.  GLPS has a wealth of talent and it is an honor to be part of it each and every day.

This week has served as a reminder to me about  what is truly involved in "pulling this off".  The perception is that we simply turn on the lights, unlock the doors and we are ready to go on that first day.  It happens!  The reality is that there is a lot of time and hard work that goes into making IT happen.  Hard work from the custodial staff, the grounds crew, the food service staff, the transportation department, para professionals, administrative assistants, teachers...and yes even administrators:).  It truly takes a village!

I have seen you working in the summer.  I have seen you working in the night.  I saw you at 5:00 AM this morning.  All of you working hard with the same goal in mind...our GL kids! THANK YOU!

As we start the year know you are appreciated and try to appreciate each other.  Try to remember that everyone is working hard to make IT happen.  Just because someone has a different job than you, different responsibilities than you, teaches a different subject or level than you do, don't assume they don't work as hard as you do.  That is not Fair and that is not True.  Everyone is pulling their weight.  It is a lot easier if we pull together.

Enjoy the weekend!  Rest!  Rumor is there will be some 5,000 Comets showing up at our doors next Tuesday!  They will assume we are just turning on the lights and unlocking the doors.  I know the real story!

Have a Great Year

Steve

2016 Spring Assessment Updates

 
In this week's edition of their Spotlight on Student Assessment and Accountability publication the MDE released a number of important details about the upcoming Spring 2016 assessments including the M-STEP testing dates, wraparound testing for 11th grade students, and a reduction in the number of performance tasks..  While there are still outstanding questions about paper/pencil testing dates and accommodations for the SAT, this information looks like an improvement over last year and gives us a clear path to move forward in scheduling for spring 2016

 Some Highlights Include!

 1. The MME will consist of 1) the SAT with Essay 2) the ACT WorkKeys and 3) the online M-STEP Science and Social Studies (M-STEP will no longer include a language arts and mathematics component).  This change reduces state-required testing time in 11th grade by up to 8 hours!

 2.  For the M-STEP in grades 3–8, the Performance Task portion of the English language arts assessment will only be administered once in elementary school (grade 5) and once in middle school (grade 8). This reduces testing time by 2.5 hours in each of the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th grades!
The M-STEP Mathematics assessments will continue to include a Performance Task in grades 3 through 8.

3.  The testing window has been adjusted for Spring 2016. The testing schedule for the M-STEP and MI-Access assessments will not begin until after most spring breaks have ended and will conclude before Memorial Day. The window will span 7 weeks: April 11–May 27, 2016. These adjustments, along with moving the administration of SAT and ACT WorkKeys to April, will reduce the overall footprint testing has in our schools while still providing flexibility to successfully administer online.

You can view the entire Spotlight below!

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Spotlight_8-20-15_497865_7.pdf

Proud To Be A Comet!

Grand Ledge is more than just the place I have worked for the past 13 years.  It is the place I call home. I grew up here!  I graduated from here!  I moved back here to raise my family! Last spring I had the honor handing my daughter her GLHS diploma 30 years after I received mine. As I prepare to start year 14 in a new position, I know there are many reasons why I am Proud to be a Comet!

I know that our district is a good district.  In many areas we are great.  The fact is our students learn. Our faculty and staff care.  We have an early child hood center and a a full day kindergarten building dedicated to getting our students off to a great start!  We offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses and enrichment   programs for students at all levels to challenge themselves academically.  We have dozens of after school clubs and activities, highly qualified and certified staff, new technology and successful athletic programming.  We have developed community partnerships, support systems to combat drop outs and help struggling learners at all levels, alternative education programming, job shadowing, and employment internships.

I know that each year we have National Merit Semi-Finalists and Finalists and we have had a National Merit scholarship winner in three of the past four years (2 in 2015). We have Advanced Placement (AP) Scholars (46 in 2015) and last year we were one of only 477 schools in the United States and Canada (one of 31 in our state) to be named to the Advanced Placement Honor Roll.  That was the second time in the past four years we have received this honor.  Only one other district in the state can say that and my guess is that we will make the list this year too!

I know that we do well on the objective measures of success and other key indicators that are emphasized by the state.  Results from the MEAP, M-STEP, ACT/MME and Advanced Placement (AP) testing rank us above the state average and in some instances among the highest performing districts in the state.  We have one of the higher graduation rates in the state and our student attendance rate is exceptionally high.

I know that our students graduate with the skills the need to be successful in life.  Our students are accepted into the top colleges and universities in the State and Nation.  The Class of 2015 received over $3,000,000 in academic and athletic scholarships offers.

I know that our students and staff produce nationally recognized musicals. Our bands and choirs earn the highest marks at solo and ensemble festivals and our instructors are recognized by the peers as being among the best in the state.

I know that our athletic teams are competitive and, at times, the best in the state. We have coaches who challenge students to improve but more importantly we have coaches who care about each student.  We win conference, district and regional championships every year.  We have won our share of state championships too.

I know that we have wonderful diversity in our buildings.  Our district serves six different communities within three counties.  As a result we have over 4,500 students from a wide range of backgrounds.  Every year we have dozens of foreign exchange students attend our high school and our exchange program with our “sister school” in Lohne, Germany is entering its 35 ^th year.  This diversity provides an opportunity for our students to experience the world that they will live and work in and gain experiences that will give them confidence as they go off to college and enter the world of work.

I know that Comet PRIDE is more that a PBIS slogan to our secondary students and staff.  We strive to be Positive be Responsible, have Integrity, be Determined and be Engaged in everything we do.  At the elementary level Beagle ROCKS, Wacousta is OPEN, Delta Center SOARs and at Willow Ridge and Neff we Do the Right Thing   As a result, our schools our clean, safe and welcoming places to learn and grow.

I know we have outstanding faculty and staff in our buildings.  In an age when the education profession is often under valued and under appreciated,  our teachers, administrators and support staff strive to do what is best for our students.  We have staff who come in early and stay late to tutor. We have staff who call parents and encourage students every day.  We have dozens of teachers who gave up their time this summer to attend professional development opportunities.

I know our rich history! Since 1886 Grand Ledge Public Schools has been the focal point of our culture and a source of community pride!  Many community members (and staff members) graduated from Grand Ledge High School themselves, in fact it is common to have several generations within a family graduate from GLHS!

I also know we can do better.  We do have achievement gaps between the bottom 30 percent of our students and our population as a whole.  Some of these gaps are quite large. We have put in place a variety of supports to address these gaps. We have created a Multi Tiered System of Support at all levels to identify and assist struggling learners.We have created year-long courses for students who struggle in Math and English. We have created conceptual courses for students who struggle in Chemistry and Physics.  We have made adjustments to curriculum and classroom instruction that is based on our data and research on best practices. We have Intervention rooms and intervention coaches in Math, English, Science and Social Studies. We have reading support classes and SAT skills classes.  We have created a “Check and Connect” program at the high school to connect students in smaller groups with a teacher who cares and who can help focus them academically.  We have teachers who run help rooms before school, after school and during their lunches. 

I know we are creating a rich, internal accountability system that will allow us to us to focus attention not only on the state measurements but also our own internal assessments to give parents a clearer and more accurate picture of their child’s achievement.  For all of these reasons and more, I am Proud to be a Comet!  As we prepare to start another school year, I look forward to working with our staff, students and community make 2015-2016 the best one yet!

New Math Program for Grades 6-8

Beginning this fall students in in grades 6-8 will have a new math program.  Pearson’s digits is a comprehensive middle grades math program that offers instructional content designed both to optimize student engagement and personalize learning.  Digits meets the State of Michigan Standards and provides a balance of explicit and guided instruction.

Teachers will utilize interactive materials from the program to allow for individual, small group and whole group instruction and to provide personalized interventions and enhancement of learning.  Student resources include write-in companions as well as access to on-line lessons, practice and personal study plans.

Teachers will be receiving professional development on the new program prior to the start of school and throughout the school year.

Focus Areas for Grade 6

·      Connecting ratio and rate to whole number multiplication and division and using concepts of ratio and rate to solve problems

·      Completing understanding of division of fraction and extending the notion of number to the system of rational numbers, including negative numbers

·      Writing, interpreting, and using expressions and equations

·      Developing understanding of statistical thinking

Focus Areas for Grade 7

·      Developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships

·      Developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations

·      Solving problems inv9olving scale drawings and informal geometric constructions, and working with two- and three-dimensional shapes to solve problems involving area, surface area, and volume

·      Drawing inferences about populations based on samples

Focus Areas for Grade 8

·      Formulation and reasoning about expressions and equations, including modeling an association in bivariate data with linear equation, and solving linear equations and systems of linear equations

·      Grasping the concept of a function and using functions to describe quantitative relationships

·      Analyzing two- and three- dimensional space and figures using distance, angle, similarity, and congruence, and understanding and applying the Pythagorean Theorem

Teachers Matter

I don’t feel well!  Lately I have had to say too many goodbyes, and frankly it makes me ill.  My teachers, my colleagues, my FRIENDS are leaving.  They are leaving my district, they are leaving my state, and they are leaving my profession.  Some have retired.  Some have taken jobs in other school districts (and other states).  Some have simply quit teaching altogether.  All have been motivated by one thing…to improve their lot in life.  They are looking for better pay, better working conditions…RESPECT!  And who can blame them?

These are good people!  Educated people!  Professionals! They are some of our best and brightest!  People I have trusted with my own children. I know these have been tough decisions for them because they care.  I know they have involved tears.  I know they have involved sleepless nights.  In the end I also know they are decisions they felt they had to make for the betterment of themselves, of their families and in some cases of their health.  

I am sickened because I feel powerless to help.  Issues beyond my control have led us here.  Years of under-funding and unequal funding of schools coupled with rising insurance rates and retirement costs have forced districts like mine to make tough decisions; Give raises and/or maintain staff levels and working conditions and go into deficit (and risk government take over) or don't so that you can maintain a fund balance but in the process demoralize employees.  And if that is not enough, public sentiment has changed.  A well-organized, broad-based public relations campaign has portrayed everyone associated with the profession as incompetent and doing harm. Public education has been effectively demonized and as a result, educators have become undervalued and under appreciated. This is not how you keep your best and brightest and attract young talent to the profession.

Recently Michigan’s new State Superintendent, Brian Whiston, and the State Board of Education invited a number of education organizations, to present their ideas on how Michigan can become a top education state.  There are two days of presentations scheduled - August 11, and September 8 – with close to two-dozen groups planning to present.  Each group gets 8 minutes to give their input.  I expect we will hear lots of ideas.  I am sure assessment will be talked about.  No doubt curriculum will be discussed.  I predict plans for greater accountability will be presented.  I suspect the need for professional development will be laid out. And I bet money that educator evaluation will be a popular talking point.

The one thing I hope to hear is this...Teachers Matter!

“Of all major contributors to learning (the student, home, school, curricula, and teaching), the teacher and teaching are among the highest average affect size to impact student learning (Hattie, 2009).  Hattie is not alone in his assessment.  In fact some of the leading researchers in the field (Marzano, Hershberg, Meyer) and over 200 studies (What Matters Most, 1996) have said that the most significant factor in improving student learning is with a knowledgeable and skilled teacher. 

I believe if we truly want to be a top education state, and if we truly want to make education a priority, we must first acknowledge and embrace this one truth…Teachers Matter.  Quality teachers are our most valuable resource.  We know it.  The research supports it!  We must be willing to invest in growing and retaining that resource.  We need to fund districts equally and fully so that districts are able to grow and retain our best and brightest.  No district should be placed in the position mine has been.  Unless we create a meaningful, respected profession our teachers, our colleagues, our FRIENDS will continue to leave our districts, our state and our profession.  That makes me sick!

GLPS Staff Members Learn How to Capture Kids’ Hearts

25 Grand Ledge Public Schools (GLPS) staff members are participating in a professional development opportunity this summer called Capturing Kids’ Hearts (CKH).  CKH is not a curriculum, rather it is a teaching and learning program designed to provide administrators and teachers with the awareness and strategies to improve and build positive, productive, trusting relationships among themselves and with students.   

CKH is primarily a process to:

• Build relationships with colleagues, customers, students
• Promote accountability and responsibility for each other and our students
• Help educators and students take responsibility for our own attitudes and behaviors - building self managing classrooms and work places
• Help motivate educators & students reach high academic, career and professional goals

The goals of the program are to:

• Build relationships 

• Build high performing teams 

• Build safe classrooms and schools

Capturing Kids’ Hearts supports the district’s ongoing PBIS initiative and promotes appreciation for diversity, character education, bully prevention, service-learning and safe school initiatives.

GLPS sponsors professional development in Capturing Kids’ Hearts through the Flippen Group from College Station, Texas.  To date, over 100 staff members have participated in CKH training and the district’s goal is to train all K-12 staff.  The feedback from the participants has been overwhelmingly positive.  As the CKH process spreads participants hope to inspire and encourage students and colleagues to improve relationships.

Changes Coming to the Michigan Merit Exam

The Michigan Merit Exam (MME) will look different for juniors at Grand Ledge High School (GLHS) this year.  All 11^th graders will be taking the redesigned SAT as the state-administered college assessment exam this spring after the College Board won the three –year competitive bid to provide the service.  Previously, the ACT served as the state’s college entrance exam. 

The Michigan Merit Examination (MME) assesses all Michigan students in grade 11 and eligible students in grade 12 based on Michigan high school standards.  This year’s test will be administered in April of 2016 and will include:

·      SAT – College Entrance Exam

·      ACT WorkKeys – Jobs Skill Assessment

·      Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP)

The SAT will be administered statewide on April 12, with the ACT WorkKeys given April 13.  The M-STEP will be given during a testing window which is yet to be determined.  The SAT and WorkKeys will be in a paper and pencil format while the MStep will be administered on-line.

To better prepare our students for this transition, GLHS will be administering the Practice SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test  (PSAT/NMSQT) on October 14^th, 2015 free of charge to all current 11^th grade students.  This test will provide students an opportunity to preview the redesigned test format prior to taking the SAT in April and the opportunity to qualify for National Merit Scholarships. 

We will be adding additional information and helpful resources related to the MME and the redesigned SAT soon at: 

www.glcomets.net/ourdistrict/administrativedepartments/academicservices/