La Crescent âHokah School Board and Superintendent Cardille Fro
La Crescent Secondary School Board Report To: La Crescent –Hokah School Board and Superintendent Cardille From: Steve Smith – Principal (512) Date: September 2015 The opening of school brought great excitement, energy, and some anxiousness into the building that was not there in June, July, and August! We opened the doors and have been settling into the routines that lie ahead. I am impressed with the adaptability and dedication of our staff. I observed many instances of our staff working with our students to problem solve and support. Overall we are in a good place judging by the smiles I have seen this week. Our inservice days provided great insight into some areas we want to explore in our classrooms. On Tuesday September 1st we joined Sonny Magana from Marzano Research Institute in an all day session. He lead our staff through a morning session on what student engagement looks like, feels like, and why it is essential to learning. In the afternoon we worked in our PLC’s with Sonny to explore some of the latest technology available to teachers in the classroom to support and promote engagement. He was a wealth of knowledge and we look forward to circling back with him later in the year to share experiences and questions. On September 3rd our middle school staff joined Scott Tyink for a morning session related to the importance of an effective advisory program. He works for a group called Origins that provides this kind of training for middle and high schools all over the area. It was good for us to revisit the purpose and refresh our skills. It also was very beneficial to the new staff that have joined us in the last several years.
It was energizing and had a very positive impact on the first few days of school as well. High School: ● Back to school night went well. Freshman and their parents had a chance to learn more about the high school experience and what to expect. We heard very positive feedback on having the back to school forms available online and we will continue to utilize skyward to support that. A huge thanks to our office staff for pulling that together. ● ACT results have returned and the data does support that we continued to have our students perform well even with the requirement last year that all students participate. The one area that stands out to me is that 47% of our students met college readiness in all 4 subjects. That ranks 46th in the state. ● MCA results for our reading and math showed mixed results. We did experience challenges in the testing cycle that we will try to address and Pearson will address as well. The MCA results do not support what we see in the ACT results. We will look at this data and continue to identify where changes can be made in our PLC work and curriculum. ● Freshman only night was a success. Students finished a mock schedule and participated in a dance. It was a very warm evening but the Link Crew did a great job ● Our back to school assembly went well and students were informed of the changes and also the opportunities that lie ahead with homecoming. There are some exciting things planned. Middle School: ● Our PLC’s began their work this week and were putting together their IGDP’s for the year.
● The first two days students were working in their advisory getting familiar with school and building relationships. Our back to school assembly was good and the 8th graders treated us to skits on the Core Values. A job well done! ● With the closing of the Boys and Girls club we will be offering extended day on Wednesday release days to help fill that void. ● MCA test results are back and we will be looking at that data to determine how and where we can improve. One of the areas of attention is how do we create more student buy in on these tests. We have some ideas and will also be looking at how our curriculum aligns with grade level tests.
It was energizing and had a very positive impact on the first few days of school as well. High School: ● Back to school night went well. Freshman and their parents had a chance to learn more about the high school experience and what to expect. We heard very positive feedback on having the back to school forms available online and we will continue to utilize skyward to support that. A huge thanks to our office staff for pulling that together. ● ACT results have returned and the data does support that we continued to have our students perform well even with the requirement last year that all students participate. The one area that stands out to me is that 47% of our students met college readiness in all 4 subjects. That ranks 46th in the state. ● MCA results for our reading and math showed mixed results. We did experience challenges in the testing cycle that we will try to address and Pearson will address as well. The MCA results do not support what we see in the ACT results. We will look at this data and continue to identify where changes can be made in our PLC work and curriculum. ● Freshman only night was a success. Students finished a mock schedule and participated in a dance. It was a very warm evening but the Link Crew did a great job ● Our back to school assembly went well and students were informed of the changes and also the opportunities that lie ahead with homecoming. There are some exciting things planned. Middle School: ● Our PLC’s began their work this week and were putting together their IGDP’s for the year.
● The first two days students were working in their advisory getting familiar with school and building relationships. Our back to school assembly was good and the 8th graders treated us to skits on the Core Values. A job well done! ● With the closing of the Boys and Girls club we will be offering extended day on Wednesday release days to help fill that void. ● MCA test results are back and we will be looking at that data to determine how and where we can improve. One of the areas of attention is how do we create more student buy in on these tests. We have some ideas and will also be looking at how our curriculum aligns with grade level tests.
