School to refocus on students' needs
, News reporter
11-18-2009
Sunrise Principal Justin Mefferd and Richmond School District Curriculum Director Julie Stevenson addressed the issues surrounding low MAP scores in the district's schools at the monthly board meeting in November.
"We are in the service business," said Mefferd, as he illustrated the efforts Sunrise has implemented to bring about desired changes.
"We serve the students. The problem is we're not meeting our potential on MAP and with AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). There are 10 elementary schools in our area and we rank nine out of 10 in math and tenth out of 10 in communication arts," he said.
Mefferd compared the district's elementary schools, via power point presentation, to those in Hardin-Central, Excelsior Springs, Orrick, Oak Grove, Odessa, Lexington, Wellington-Napoleon, Higginsville, and Lawson.
Mefford outlined the reasons he believes contributed to the district's lower placing.
"It's our focus, our methods for preparing for the MAP, our time management and our schedule," he said, then introduced a 'foundation of solution.'
"We're going to refocus on the students' needs and establish more of a team concept, and a MAP improvement strategies class," he added.
Referring to the 'team concept,' he said, "We've been working as 'I.'" At the first PLC (Planning Learning Communities) meeting this year, Sunrise began working on the team concept.
"The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. We need to forget about personal glory," he said. "The school year is our practice. The MAP test is the game."
Sunrise teachers are reading "The No Complaining Rule," a book study that points out if there is a complaint, they should not fall to 'mindless complaining versus justified complaining' - but rather, think about a solution to the situation and provide that solution to the proper source.
Mefferd also introduced the school's T.A.C.T approach to further strengthen the team concept and to implement sharing ideas. Teachers Advising and Consulting Teachers goes hand-in-hand with the PLC idea, which includes strong parent/community communication.
"Eighty-three percent of students' parents attended the parent/teacher conferences. That's 438 of the 524 students (at Sunrise)," he said. "We send out a monthly Reading Connection newsletter and a general newsletter."
Continuing, Mefferd said, "Our focus is on learning, not just on grades. We have more classwork and less homework, which provides more frequent, immediate feedback to students."
The schedule of classtime, specials, and other activities at Sunrise was scrutinized, Mefferd said, and changed so that "all minutes of the day are used efficiently." Data is provided to teachers by class, by grade and by individual so they know how they compare to other classes and students by grade.
Mefferd extended appreciation to the board for approving the purchase of the Storytown Communications Arts Curriculum, stating that it is producing results. He cited the compare and contrast skills the test measures as being an area of weakness for Sunrise students.
"Our goal is to raise communication arts and math (scores) by 10 percent," he said, also emphasizing continued follow through on computer classes.
Stevenson presented the District Progress Report, saying it is "a report to show how our students are doing" in an Annual Progress Report (APR) and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
"AYP is the Federal Government saying 'this is how you're doing.' It includes every group in the district," she said. "APR is the state's way of saying 'this is how you're doing.' It takes into account attendance, ACT scores, measures large groups, and takes into account more things."
The district is in Level 3 of Improvement.
"District-wide we earned one of five in communication arts, and one of five in math," she said. "We did meet the attendance and graduation rate goals for AYP."
Going into more detail, Stevenson said the district scored 11 of 14 on APR with three areas that didn't meet - communication arts, grades three through five; career education courses, and AYP subgroups of APR.
Stevenson pointed out the district's areas of strength - college placement, career education placement, attendance rate and MAP test grades in math for sixth through eighth graders.
In the area of ACT scores, the percent of RHS students performing at the National level or above are as follows: 26.6 (2005), 29.4 (2006), 25.2 (2007), 21.5 (2008) and 35.9 (2009).
Attendance at RHS has been 95.7 percent for the last two years, above the 94.4 percent state goal.
A Student Performance Committee was formed this year. Committee members include Stevenson, BOE treasurer Brad Richey, several parents and teachers from each building. Focusing on the students' depth of knowledge (DOK), means showing them how to use that knowledge.
"Our kids might know their math facts, but can't use them. We're learning from those who are excelling," said Stevenson. "We use our PLC time to review data and plan."
Stevenson pointed to the successes the district has seen: the increase in attendance in the past two years, RHS MAP scores, and meeting more state and national standards, particularly in the raised ACT scores.
Board member Gwen Weate asked how student progression is measured and recognized.
"Dibbles, a universal screener, gives us an indication of student success. It says, 'you might later have trouble in this area, so we'll help you out now," said Stevenson.
Teacher Michelle Grote said they also use Benchmark Testing every three weeks which scores individuals and groups.
Richey had praise for the Storytown/Study Island program.
"Many students were at the basic level," he said, adding that he'd seen one student increase his communication arts scores three levels in just one quarter.
"It's like triage. I've seen it work personally and want everyone to know how good the program is."
In other board business:
-Gary Barbee of Springfield-based Sam Winn & Associates reported on the status of the tornado safe building at Dear. Thirteen bids have been turned in, three bids on just the synthetic floor. He said FEMA will accept the ventilation expense, but that SEMA hasn't yet determined its coverage. He also said when FEMA decided it didn't want to pay for the HVAC and sprinkler, that put more cost on the owner (the district). The bids were reviewed and, if they do the brick veneer and acoustical improvements later, the cost for sprinklers, HVAC and site work now, the best bid would be the $815,000 as per the Westport Co. in order to stay under the $350,000 total project cost.
- Superintendent Jim Robins discussed the district budget timeline. "We have received the first round of state withholdings. There's a very strong possibility of budget cuts this year, and certainly next year. State revenue is down by seven percent."
- Concerning district health insurance, Robins said, "We usually make our decision in March. I've been working on it since Sept. The claim ratio is still in the 90s and that's not good. Several years ago, it was in the 50s. He said there were four things the district could do - 1) stay with the same group, 2) go with a self-insured group, 3) join an insurance consortium, or 4) change brokers and start over. "It's not a good option, but it's an option," he added. Board member Gwen Weate suggested this issue as a great one for the upcoming series of mini workshops for the board.
In new business:
The board approved the award of the bid contract for the FEMA Safe Room to Westport Construction, Clinton, Mo., minus the brick veneer and acoustical package. Regents will come in to do the synthetic floor.
The board approved the board candidate filing dates and placing the ad in the newspaper.
Board members Gwen Weate and Connie Taylor were selected to attend the annual National School Board Association Convention in April.
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