Homecoming Week!

Tomorrow night is Homecoming Friday and our Albert Lea Tigers host Faribault.  We have had a lot of fun this week learning the school fight song and a few other cheers.  We will be ready to show our school spirit at the game and be good role models for sportsmanship.  Activities for the week were: Tuesday - Team Jersey day, Thursday - Pajama day, and Friday - Cherry and Blue.  Please remember that enjoying the game is an event that is great for families to do together, especially since our school board has approved free admission to all students to any home event this week. I hope to see you at the game.

Sibley Academic Growth Continues

Today, District 241's Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) as determined by our Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA's) became public.  Last year, Sibley did not make AYP in 6 different categories.  In 2011, we missed in only 1 area by 1%!!!!  In case you didn't realize it, under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), 100% of students in every tested group will be proficient in reading and math by the year 2014.  However, like all things, improvement and individual academic growth is a priority for us.  We are dedicated to a collaborative effort in increasing student achievement as evidence by our work in Professional Learning Communities.  As educators, we believe all students can achieve at high levels and we want them to believe they can as well.  We will continue to focus our efforts on the individual growth of each child through our focus on learning; staff and students.  To read about all buildings within the district, please review to Dr. Mike Funk's blog as it is all encompassing from a district standpoint.

Gifted and Talented Services

In my previous post, I talked a little about the purpose behind some of our fall assessments.  This year, our district is developing further our Gifted Program and using MAP assessments as one part in the qualifying process.  To possibly qualify, a student would score in the 95%ile on the MAP reading or math tests.  After that, and with permission from parents, an aptitude test would be given to further determine the benefit and placement.  A third bit of information from parents and teachers will also be used to help in the process.  As a district and school, the mission of the program is to maximize the potential and meet the unique educational and affective needs of our gifted and talented students.  Programming options include but are not limited to: pullout small group instruction, differentiation within the classroom, mentorships, sponsored competitions such as Math Masters and Spelling Bee, Junior Great Books discussion groups, and other enrichment opportunities as they arise and need dictates.

A word on Assessments

During the first full 2 weeks of the school year, all of our district's elementary students will be assessed K-5 through the use of two assessment tools; AIMSweb and MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing.  Both assessments are used to help teachers know where students are in terms of their learning.  AIMSweb contains a progress monitoring component which allows teachers to study data on students frequently to assure that if mid-course corrections need to be made, they can be.  All students will be assessed using AIMSweb three times a year, and MAP testing has that same ability.  Because we are focused on high levels of student learning for all students, the purpose of these assessments are primarily to inform us.  When certain grade level targets are not where we determine they should be, we use this data to plan accordingly within grade level teams. 

Defining MAP: MAP is used to measure a student's progress or growth in school.  They are important to teachers because they let teachers know where a student's strengths are and if help is needed in any specific areas.  Teachers use this information to help them guide instruction in the classroom.  If you have ever used a growth chart in your home to show how much your child has grown from one year to the next, this will help you understand the scale MAP uses to measure your child's academic progress.  Called the RIT scale (Rasch unIT), it is an equal-interval scale much like feet and inches on a yardstick.  It is used to chart your child's academic growth from year to year.  RIT scores typically start at the 140 to 190 level in 3rd grade and progress to the 240 to 300 level by high school

Defining AIMSweb: AIMSweb is a benchmark and progress monitoring system based on direct, frequent and continuous student assessment. The results are reported to students, parents, teachers and administrators via a web-based data management and reporting system to determine how best to adjust teaching and respond to an individual students needs.


Special School District, St. Louis, Missouri from Kerri O'Meara on Vimeo.

Great Start

To kick off our school year, we ended our first day with a celebration that the students really enjoyed.  As a staff, we decided that we would assemble all of our grades to welcome them to the start of what will be a great year "together."  Throughout the day, and certainly the first four days, students and teachers will spend time building their classroom communities around the Responsive Classroom approach.  We didn't want to forget that we are a school-wide community of learners as well, which was a major focus for the assembly.  Jane Hansen, our physical education teacher, also taught the whole school a dance that was set to the song, "Celebration," by Kool and the Gang.  At Sibley, we are focused on learning and individual growth.  To that end, "We Celebrate Learning."

Exciting News for Sibley!

I hope that you had a wonderful and restful summer, and are looking forward to a great school year.  Last spring, our district made the decision to change our grade configurations in light of a number of things.  At Sibley, one reason for K-5 buildings, was our lack of space.  This year, art will be taught in a classroom, not our cafeteria.  Our ELL program will have a classroom, and not need to use a conference room.  In addition, our Learning Center support room will be in a space that will allow much more room for students to work.  Last year, our Learning Center was making the most of a space one-third the size of a regular room. This year, we will operate with four K-5 buildings, a 6-7 middle school, and an 8-12 high school.  Maximizing the learning space and facilities of both our middle and high schools was also accomplished with our district reconfiguration. 

In addition to some of the physical changes we underwent in our buildings, we also learned that we had received a grant from the state to support 5 FTE's known as ADSIS (Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services) teachers.  Our application was written to support a teacher at each elementary school and our middle school.  The goal for Albert Lea's ADSIS program is to provide research based interventions for students identified as being at risk for academic failure and possible referral for special education services in the areas of reading, math, and behavior.  We want students to remain in the general classroom receiving additional support and intervention as needed.

Sibley will once again be able to support a Title 1 program for students grades K-3 in reading and math.  Historically, buildings that dropped below the district's average of poverty have not had Title 1 services. At the Federal level, the district received much more Title 1 dollars than anticipated due to the 2010 census.  Because of this, an in depth analysis was done which determined that we can support a Title 1 program if we adhere to the 35% rule(As a district we are over the 35% poverty threshold).

It is going to be a fantastic year at Sibley as well as for the district.

Thoughts on MCA's

It has been far too long since my last post and during that time, a lot has happened.

During the month of April and into May, students in grades 3-6 took their state MCA tests in reading, math, and science.  Math and Reading MCA's are those results that also determine if a school has made their Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) when compared to themselves from the previous year.  Last year, Sibley did not make their AYP target.  This year, we continued our efforts in the area of reading with a further emphasis on reading strategies to assist all students with understanding text, both fiction and non-fiction.  We also took time in the area of writing, which is an area that is sometimes overlooked in schools.  Student writing, and their 'thinking through the end of pen," can be seen throughout the school and in various classrooms as student work is hanging proudly for others to see.

Let's face it, making sense of what we read and discuss by putting clarity to our thoughts through speaking and writing is not an easy task for many an adult.  The research shows that applying reading strategies to all content areas and increasing the time spent writing create critical thinking necessary to succeed beyond school and later in life.

Schools feel a great sense of pressure to do well on their state's tests.  Nobody is saying that we don't think about or want our scores to be better.  I don't know any educator that would tell you otherwise.  However, as we focus on being proficient, sometimes we are only concerned about that . . .  being proficient. The schools responsibility is to the whole child.  We should want our students to learn and excel at history, science, speaking, technology, reading, and math.  By providing a wealth of experiences and high expectations in each,  students at all levels excel rather than meet a proficiency target.  As a school and district, we are excited about some of the changes underway to help us accomplish this . . . . stay tuned.

Morning Muffins

On April 20th, our PTO will be sponsoring what we call, "Morning Muffins."  It is a time for families and kids to get together in our gym for a small morning breakfast.  The best part about it is the conversation that occurs at the tables about school, friendships, and families.  We think it serves its purpose well as it is time for our PTO to promote and support the importance of family involvement.  This event is open to all students, although we do ask students to be accompanied by an adult.  In the past, unsupervised mornings have resulted in situations that are a bit too chaotic and not something we would like.  If you can't accompany your child, they can always bring a grandparent, cousin, neighbor, or even a teacher.  Thanks for understanding and we look forward to seeing you.