LAIR

(seems I never officially posted this entry last week as I had intended, as it was sitting in my drafts this morning. Oh well, better late than never!)

Last night I went to visit our 8th graders as they were out at Sierra Outdoor School over off Big Hill Road. They headed out on Wednesday morning and returned Friday afternoon. LAIR (still don't know what that acronym stands for)is a 3 day camp that builds problem solving, leadership and bonding of our future leaders. On Wednesday they tackle various challenges to work on developing their problem solving and team work. Thursday they headed up to Pinecrest lake and did kayaking, hiking and orienteering. Friday the big challenge are the high ropes (and we mean HIGH!) and the zip lines. These are great activities to challenge the students and help develop their own self confidence.

A big thank you to Mr. Primrose and Mrs. Deverel who were our parent suckers, err, I mean chaperones. Not only did they get the pleasure of trying to subdue a group of nervous,anxious, and excited 8th graders and try to get them to sleep, they also got to pay for it!

Back to school night and noon-league soccer

It was nice to see everyone last Thursday at Back to School Night. We had a great turn out, and it is always nice to show off the school, and the great teachers we have. Thank you to Vicky White and Daniel Richardson for speaking up for B.O.T.H. and F.F.E.E. Those groups provide a valuable service to our schools!

On Friday we started our noon-league soccer season. We run a sports league during lunch recess at the middle school. Students sign up, I pick captains, they pick teams, I create a schedule, and the kids play! This year we will have 4 sports: soccer, basketball, volleyball and softball. At the end of each season, we'll have a tournament and the winning team will win noon-league champ tee shirts!

Electives

Today was a big day at the middle school. We kicked off our electives classes with an organizational meeting with the teachers and students. We will have our elective period on Wednesdays that are not minimum days. Each trimester we'll give the students in 5th through 8th grade a choice of one class. We'll change classes each trimester, and give the students new choices. The teachers will have the ability to teach different classes than what they normally teach. For example, this trimester, Mrs. Bickley, our math teacher, will be teaching a cooking and nutrition class with Mr. Brown, our Title I teacher, Mr. Dunlap will be heading up a school newspaper, and Mr. Gold will round up some cross-age tutors to go work with Mrs. Berry's first graders. Mrs. Randall will be teaching drama, Mr. Glen Anderson (Mrs. Anderson's brother-in-law) will teach art, Janet Blaum will teach a crafts class and Mrs. Roberts, our Librarian, and I will be heading up the yearbook crew. We'll also have a study hall, and a "focus room" where students can be sent if they are having behavior issues. These classes should help enrich the student's experience at the middle school and will help to make Twain Harte the place to be!

Short week

Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day Weekend. It was busy for me, and was glad to be back to school!

Turns out it was a spacing error on the spreadsheet I sent in to pre-identify our CST tests that made all of our students Hawaiians! Ugh!

We are gearing up for Back to School Night on Thursday. Remember that Thursday is early dismissal!

API scores

Well, in typical form, the state had said the scores would be released at 10:00 yesterday morning, but when I logged in, there was a note saying they anticipating them being released by 2:00. We were in a staff meeting then and it wasn't until almost 5:00 that I had a chance to look at them. Good news! The middle school's API scores rose from 803 to 805, Black Oak's scores rose from 822 to 842, and Pinecrest's went from 878 to 919! This is a testament to the hard work all the teachers have put in. Black Oak's gain of 20 points and Pinecrest's gain of 41 points are two of the highest point gains in the county for regular (non-charter) schools, and Pinecrest's score of 919 (out of a possible 1000) is one of the highest in the state! Very nice work, teachers and students!

An interesting side note to the test scores. In the fall I have to upload our student data to Educational Testing Service (ETS), the company that produces the California Standards Test (CST). ETS then fills out our CST tests with our student data (name, grade, birth date, etc.) Apparently, I transposed a digit in the ethnicity field on the database, as we now have very nearly 100% of our students are Native Hawaian, or Pacific Islanders! I think we'll have Hula dancing as a P.E. class and start surfing on Pinecrest Lake!

Wednesday

Today is a big day. The state is supposed to be releasing our APR (Accountability Progress Report) scores at 10:00. The APR includes the API (Academic Performance Index) and AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress).

The API is the state's measure of how well our school's have done on the CST (California Standards Test). This consists of a number from 200 to 1000, with the state goal of every school being at least 800. Last years scores were 822 for Black Oak, 809 for Twain Harte Middle School, and 878 for Pinecrest (The best in the county!). I'm confident these numbers will all rise as our CST scores showed improvements across the board.

AYP is the federal government's accountability goal (think No Child Left Behind). That program states that all students must be proficient on the CST test by 2014. This is a seriously challenging goal, and while we made good progress, I suspect we will have not met this goal (neither will most schools in California). It will be interesting to see how the Obama administration changes the game when No Child Left Behind comes up for reauthorization later this year.

I'll update this blog later today once the scores have been made available.