The Results Are In!

Over the past few weeks we have asked you as parents and students (in grades 2-5) to complete a survey to give us feedback about our school. The results are in and we wanted to share them with you!

From the parent survey, we learned:

• Your preferred method of communication is email, followed up with Alert Now phone calls.
• You believe your child is receiving quality instruction in most subjects including: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Music and Art.
• 16.7% of parents believe their child is receiving quality instruction in Technology.
• 73.2% of parents agree that Westwoods provides enrichment activities that enhance your child’s educational experiences (assemblies, field trips, speakers).
• 80.5% of parents reported that their child enjoys going to school!
• 92.5% of parents believe their child feels safe at school.

From the student survey, we learned that overall kids feel comfortable and safe at Westwoods. Some specific items include:

• 99% of students believe that their teacher cares about them sometimes or always.
• 55% of students believe that their classmates and staff always treat them with respect. 45% of students believe that is true sometimes.
• 95% of students believe that the teachers and the principal want them to learn.
• 93% of students always want to do well in school!
• 53% of students have had their teacher talk to them about going to college.

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and input with us. Parent and student feedback plays an important role at Westwoods. We appreciate your suggestions and will work to address your concerns.

Yours in Education,

Sander Scott

 

Penny Wars
Throughout the months of December and January, the four kindergarten classes at Westwoods Elementary School held a "Penny War" with the help of the United Way. The students learned how United Way helps our community collect funds from individuals and businesses and then grants that money back to our local non-profit community. After collecting money, each classroom then decided which non-profit they would like to donate the money to-creating their own mini-grant cycle. Upon careful consideration, three of the classrooms decided they would like to donate the money to the Cherryland Humane Society because they were passionate about the help the Society provided to animals in need. Those three classrooms collected a total of $329.46. The final group of students chose to donate their funds to the Women's Resource Center (WRC); a total of $84.89. The students decided that they liked the support the WRC provides to children and their mothers here in our community.

United Way is proud of all the excitement and enthusiasm that these four kindergarten classrooms put towards their Penny War! All of these students have learned at tremendous lesson about giving.

Thank you again for allowing United Way to be a part of your learning experience.

Amanda Hilt
Youth and Family Volunteer Coordinator
United Way of Northwest Michigan
Amanda@unitedwaynwmi.org

 

MEAP Test Results

We would like to share some important news and updates regarding the MEAP results for TCAPS and let you know about additional information you will be receiving soon from our school.

 

Recently, the Michigan Department of Education released MEAP test results for all schools in the state. TCAPS overall district scores were published in the Record-Eagle newspaper and have been posted on the district website at www.tcaps.net.

 

In the near future, our school will receive reports of individual student scores. As soon as this information is received from the State:

 

Individual student MEAP results will be sent home. 

A parent meeting will be scheduled to review our school MEAP results. The date for the parent meeting will be included in a letter that will be sent with each student's results.

 

Prior to the recent announcement by the State, scores for our district were embargoed and could not be shared with anyone but school personnel. TCAPS received scores a few weeks ago. School improvement teams have closely analyzed the data. We are generally pleased with schools’ results in Reading, Science, and Social Studies subject areas where TCAPS exceeded the State in all grade level tests in the percentage of students who scored proficient or advanced. Our greatest concern is elementary math where results for the district were very inconsistent. Our school is actively reviewing our MEAP results. We are working with the district math specialist and making adjustments to instruction in our classrooms to ensure all students are progressing in mathematics and academic core learning.

 

We want to keep you informed about some big changes in the way MEAP and MME results are being reported. This year, the Michigan Department of Education raised the MEAP cut scores (or cut-off scores). Cut scores separate test takers into categories such as advanced, proficient, partially proficient, and not proficient. Throughout the entire state of Michigan, the new cut scores dramatically changed the student, school, and district performance levels on the MEAP test. Please click here to view a video titled "Understanding the New Michigan Cut Scores" for more information.

 

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) believes that raising cut-off scores will give parents and students a better sense of whether students are adequately prepared for the next step in their education. MDE has determined that cut-off levels for proficiency indicate whether students are “college ready.” TCAPS does not believe that MEAP is an accurate indicator of a student’s college or career readiness. In fact, the developers of the ACT Test, which includes a college readiness benchmark, have not endorsed the use of MEAP to correlate with the ACT. More than anything, we believe that the use of labels especially at such a young age can be harmful to students. A student’s academic growth is similar to growth in other areas of development. A student’s one-time test performance that falls above or below the cut score level does not mean a student will or will not meet the requirements for college entrance by the time a student is a senior.

 

In thinking about these changes, we want our parents and students to understand that the MEAP is one snapshot of a student’s performance at a single point and time. TCAPS uses multiple assessment measures throughout the school year, such as Developmental Reading Assessments (K-5), ACT Explore (Grades 7-9), PLAN (Grade 10) and local unit assessments (CAAP) to gain an overall picture of your child’s academic performance. This spring, we are adding a nationally normed assessment in grades 2-6.

 

When you receive your student’s individual MEAP scores, I encourage you to review the information and please feel free to contact me personally as your school principal, and to talk with your child’s classroom teacher. I also encourage you to attend our upcoming parent meeting when we will review our school MEAP scores with you. We will send an Alert Now to let you know when your MEAP information is sent home and the date of our parent meeting.

 

Thank you for your support. We will continue to provide the best education possible for your student and will do whatever it takes to ensure your student’s continued success and achievement this year and into the future.

 

Yours in Education,
Sander Scott

 

Tuning Into Learning

Now that our newsletters are being distributed to you electronically, I thought we might try embedding some video links in order to “spice up” our newsletter. In these two video clips, we take a peek into one Kindergarten classroom at Westwoods. We see two students engaged in literacy, one reading and another doing some “word work.”

If you know both kids, you’ll know their mothers are teachers at Westwoods. It’s not that we’re “playing favorites” as far as who gets on video so much as it’s Friday and I’m “up against a hard deadline in publishing this newsletter and these two moms are easy for me to ask for permission to publish the video. We’re certainly open to sharing the spotlight to any parent out there.

As you watch this first video clip, I hope you’ll notice one specific thing about this reader. She has developed what reading teachers call “one to one correspondence,” meaning she can identify each separate word. We know this because she points at each word as she reads. At this stage, this is appropriate. As she continues to develop as a reader, we’ll want her to “pull her finger out” but that’s part of the development of an early reader.

Click on the link below to see my introduction and this reader demonstrate “one to one correspondence.” Also, notice how excited she is about reading at the end of the book!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x4IUocLvwk

Our next clip shows a student doing some word work. As I ask him a few questions about his completed work, I hope you’ll notice something when he talks about a pair of words that were hard for him. All of our teachers at Westwoods are working on developing a “growth mindset” to help students persist with difficult problems and enjoy the challenge. I hope my response to this student helps him develop his own Growth Mindset as it relates to challenges he’ll undoubtedly encounter as a learner (because we all do; otherwise we wouldn’t be learning).

Click on the link below to see this student do his “word work.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuhYjBoYdWo

Thanks for “tuning into learning” at Westwoods!

Yours in Education,

Sander Scott

 

A Message from the PTO President

 

Westwoods Parent Survey Results

(from one question) 

 

Combine the orange, blue, and purple parts of the pie chart below, and you will notice that in a recent survey an overwhelming number of Westwoods Parents responded that they agreed with this statement: "It's important to tell children that they are smart in order to build their confidence and self esteem."

 

I invite you to visit the following link to a recent article by Dan Hodgins entitled, Are We Raising 'Praise Addicts’. In light of the survey results above, I thought it might be worth it for parents, teachers, and all people interested in raising well-adjusted kids to spend some time thinking deeply on this subject. Click here to read the article, Are We Raising 'Praise Addicts' by Dan Hodgins.  

 

Yours in education,

 

Sander Scott

 

As we reflect on our parent teacher conferences, I wanted to share with you some changes that have taken place in TCAPS with regard to how we are assessing student reading levels. You may be familiar with the district-wide assessment tool we use called the DRA-2. With this tool, we are assessing students for their "independent level" or that point where they can confidently read and comprehend a text without adult assistance. Students will be assessed up to one grade level beyond their current grade.

We have learned that the reading assessments can lose credibility if students are assessed several levels beyond their current grade level. Our revised use of the reading assessment will focus on teaching more genres and complex comprehension strategies at grade level, with the primary goal being greater comprehension and connection to the text.

What will this mean for your child? Greater emphasis on building and assessing comprehension strategies and retelling with details, and higher standards for achieving leveled scores in each of the three areas: accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. As we adjust our expectations and criteria for higher performance, you may think what is reported to you indicates a slower rate of growth for your child in terms of achieving numbered levels.

Be assured that your children will still be challenged to improve their personal reading performance. We are striving for developing readers with a broader base of strategies for deeper understanding, rather than accelerating children into levels without the necessary foundation for independence. The teachers and I are excited to help children develop to be more fluent readers, who have greater comprehension with the ability to relate to the text, and the skills to communicate the experience to others.

Yours in education,

Sander Scott

 

The Results Are In!

Over the past few weeks we have asked you as parents and students (in grades 2-5) to complete a survey to give us feedback about our school. The results are in and we wanted to share them with you!

From the parent survey, we learned:

• Your preferred method of communication is email, followed up with Alert Now phone calls.
• You believe your child is receiving quality instruction in most subjects including: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Music and Art.
• 16.7% of parents believe their child is receiving quality instruction in Technology.
• 73.2% of parents agree that Westwoods provides enrichment activities that enhance your child’s educational experiences (assemblies, field trips, speakers).
• 80.5% of parents reported that their child enjoys going to school!
• 92.5% of parents believe their child feels safe at school.

From the student survey, we learned that overall kids feel comfortable and safe at Westwoods. Some specific items include:

• 99% of students believe that their teacher cares about them sometimes or always.
• 55% of students believe that their classmates and staff always treat them with respect. 45% of students believe that is true sometimes.
• 95% of students believe that the teachers and the principal want them to learn.
• 93% of students always want to do well in school!
• 53% of students have had their teacher talk to them about going to college.

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and input with us. Parent and student feedback plays an important role at Westwoods. We appreciate your suggestions and will work to address your concerns.

Yours in Education,

Sander Scott

 

Penny Wars
Throughout the months of December and January, the four kindergarten classes at Westwoods Elementary School held a "Penny War" with the help of the United Way. The students learned how United Way helps our community collect funds from individuals and businesses and then grants that money back to our local non-profit community. After collecting money, each classroom then decided which non-profit they would like to donate the money to-creating their own mini-grant cycle. Upon careful consideration, three of the classrooms decided they would like to donate the money to the Cherryland Humane Society because they were passionate about the help the Society provided to animals in need. Those three classrooms collected a total of $329.46. The final group of students chose to donate their funds to the Women's Resource Center (WRC); a total of $84.89. The students decided that they liked the support the WRC provides to children and their mothers here in our community.

United Way is proud of all the excitement and enthusiasm that these four kindergarten classrooms put towards their Penny War! All of these students have learned at tremendous lesson about giving.

Thank you again for allowing United Way to be a part of your learning experience.

Amanda Hilt
Youth and Family Volunteer Coordinator
United Way of Northwest Michigan
Amanda@unitedwaynwmi.org

 

MEAP Test Results

We would like to share some important news and updates regarding the MEAP results for TCAPS and let you know about additional information you will be receiving soon from our school.

 

Recently, the Michigan Department of Education released MEAP test results for all schools in the state. TCAPS overall district scores were published in the Record-Eagle newspaper and have been posted on the district website at www.tcaps.net.

 

In the near future, our school will receive reports of individual student scores. As soon as this information is received from the State:

 

Individual student MEAP results will be sent home. 

A parent meeting will be scheduled to review our school MEAP results. The date for the parent meeting will be included in a letter that will be sent with each student's results.

 

Prior to the recent announcement by the State, scores for our district were embargoed and could not be shared with anyone but school personnel. TCAPS received scores a few weeks ago. School improvement teams have closely analyzed the data. We are generally pleased with schools’ results in Reading, Science, and Social Studies subject areas where TCAPS exceeded the State in all grade level tests in the percentage of students who scored proficient or advanced. Our greatest concern is elementary math where results for the district were very inconsistent. Our school is actively reviewing our MEAP results. We are working with the district math specialist and making adjustments to instruction in our classrooms to ensure all students are progressing in mathematics and academic core learning.

 

We want to keep you informed about some big changes in the way MEAP and MME results are being reported. This year, the Michigan Department of Education raised the MEAP cut scores (or cut-off scores). Cut scores separate test takers into categories such as advanced, proficient, partially proficient, and not proficient. Throughout the entire state of Michigan, the new cut scores dramatically changed the student, school, and district performance levels on the MEAP test. Please click here to view a video titled "Understanding the New Michigan Cut Scores" for more information.

 

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) believes that raising cut-off scores will give parents and students a better sense of whether students are adequately prepared for the next step in their education. MDE has determined that cut-off levels for proficiency indicate whether students are “college ready.” TCAPS does not believe that MEAP is an accurate indicator of a student’s college or career readiness. In fact, the developers of the ACT Test, which includes a college readiness benchmark, have not endorsed the use of MEAP to correlate with the ACT. More than anything, we believe that the use of labels especially at such a young age can be harmful to students. A student’s academic growth is similar to growth in other areas of development. A student’s one-time test performance that falls above or below the cut score level does not mean a student will or will not meet the requirements for college entrance by the time a student is a senior.

 

In thinking about these changes, we want our parents and students to understand that the MEAP is one snapshot of a student’s performance at a single point and time. TCAPS uses multiple assessment measures throughout the school year, such as Developmental Reading Assessments (K-5), ACT Explore (Grades 7-9), PLAN (Grade 10) and local unit assessments (CAAP) to gain an overall picture of your child’s academic performance. This spring, we are adding a nationally normed assessment in grades 2-6.

 

When you receive your student’s individual MEAP scores, I encourage you to review the information and please feel free to contact me personally as your school principal, and to talk with your child’s classroom teacher. I also encourage you to attend our upcoming parent meeting when we will review our school MEAP scores with you. We will send an Alert Now to let you know when your MEAP information is sent home and the date of our parent meeting.

 

Thank you for your support. We will continue to provide the best education possible for your student and will do whatever it takes to ensure your student’s continued success and achievement this year and into the future.

 

Yours in Education,
Sander Scott

 

Tuning Into Learning

Now that our newsletters are being distributed to you electronically, I thought we might try embedding some video links in order to “spice up” our newsletter. In these two video clips, we take a peek into one Kindergarten classroom at Westwoods. We see two students engaged in literacy, one reading and another doing some “word work.”

If you know both kids, you’ll know their mothers are teachers at Westwoods. It’s not that we’re “playing favorites” as far as who gets on video so much as it’s Friday and I’m “up against a hard deadline in publishing this newsletter and these two moms are easy for me to ask for permission to publish the video. We’re certainly open to sharing the spotlight to any parent out there.

As you watch this first video clip, I hope you’ll notice one specific thing about this reader. She has developed what reading teachers call “one to one correspondence,” meaning she can identify each separate word. We know this because she points at each word as she reads. At this stage, this is appropriate. As she continues to develop as a reader, we’ll want her to “pull her finger out” but that’s part of the development of an early reader.

Click on the link below to see my introduction and this reader demonstrate “one to one correspondence.” Also, notice how excited she is about reading at the end of the book!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x4IUocLvwk

Our next clip shows a student doing some word work. As I ask him a few questions about his completed work, I hope you’ll notice something when he talks about a pair of words that were hard for him. All of our teachers at Westwoods are working on developing a “growth mindset” to help students persist with difficult problems and enjoy the challenge. I hope my response to this student helps him develop his own Growth Mindset as it relates to challenges he’ll undoubtedly encounter as a learner (because we all do; otherwise we wouldn’t be learning).

Click on the link below to see this student do his “word work.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuhYjBoYdWo

Thanks for “tuning into learning” at Westwoods!

Yours in Education,

Sander Scott

 

A Message from the PTO President

 

Westwoods Parent Survey Results

(from one question) 

 

Combine the orange, blue, and purple parts of the pie chart below, and you will notice that in a recent survey an overwhelming number of Westwoods Parents responded that they agreed with this statement: "It's important to tell children that they are smart in order to build their confidence and self esteem."

 

I invite you to visit the following link to a recent article by Dan Hodgins entitled, Are We Raising 'Praise Addicts’. In light of the survey results above, I thought it might be worth it for parents, teachers, and all people interested in raising well-adjusted kids to spend some time thinking deeply on this subject. Click here to read the article, Are We Raising 'Praise Addicts' by Dan Hodgins.  

 

Yours in education,

 

Sander Scott

 

As we reflect on our parent teacher conferences, I wanted to share with you some changes that have taken place in TCAPS with regard to how we are assessing student reading levels. You may be familiar with the district-wide assessment tool we use called the DRA-2. With this tool, we are assessing students for their "independent level" or that point where they can confidently read and comprehend a text without adult assistance. Students will be assessed up to one grade level beyond their current grade.

We have learned that the reading assessments can lose credibility if students are assessed several levels beyond their current grade level. Our revised use of the reading assessment will focus on teaching more genres and complex comprehension strategies at grade level, with the primary goal being greater comprehension and connection to the text.

What will this mean for your child? Greater emphasis on building and assessing comprehension strategies and retelling with details, and higher standards for achieving leveled scores in each of the three areas: accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. As we adjust our expectations and criteria for higher performance, you may think what is reported to you indicates a slower rate of growth for your child in terms of achieving numbered levels.

Be assured that your children will still be challenged to improve their personal reading performance. We are striving for developing readers with a broader base of strategies for deeper understanding, rather than accelerating children into levels without the necessary foundation for independence. The teachers and I are excited to help children develop to be more fluent readers, who have greater comprehension with the ability to relate to the text, and the skills to communicate the experience to others.

Yours in education,

Sander Scott