English Language Learners/Bilingual Program
The English Language Learners/Bilingual Program is in the midst of mandatory state assessment. So far the assessments are going well!
Family and Community Resource Center
The Family Community Resource Center distributed 193 Basic Needs and gave 48 Resource Referrals to outside agencies. Our food pantry usage doubled in the month of January with 660 individual student visits to all 5 pantries. This past month’s focus has been on parent education and engagement.
Leslie has scheduled and developed three upcoming trainings which will be offered for free. Leslie is working on getting the word out about these three opportunities:
Highly Capable Program
WPS and WIS are working together to assess every student Kindergarten through Fourth Grade for Hi-C this year. We are making plans to implement professional development to integrate more Hi-C differentiation in grades K-4. In WMS Hi-C, the students are using the design model create levitating carts that are self-powered by any means. They are trying to go 2 meters in the quickest time. It is great to see all the different designs, from their concepts to the actual working build (which may not look anything like the original design). WMS Hi-C is finishing the component testing and soon will be having the timed runs.
K-12 Attendance
This time of year is getting busy with more students missing school. Each week Stacy Mouat’s BECCA conference groups grow at both WHS and WMS, averaging about 10 students at each school and at least 2-5 new students at the lower levels (phone conferences are done with those parents).
During conference week, Stacy will be following up with parents of the WPS and WIS students who have over 18 absences to try to identify factors contributing to absences.
Stacy and I will be meeting with the attendance secretaries during conference week to lay out the vision for using the 9-day absence documentation forms to try to identify factors contributing to individual absences. We want to develop a strategy at the school level to problem solve solutions, such as course or schedule changes that could help before it becomes a truancy issue. All doctor notes now go to our District Nurse to review, and she is included in team meetings in which chronic medical issues are a factor contributing to attendance problems.
Furthermore, Eric Jacobson did a news article on the new attendance policy that was picked up by several other newspaper outlets. KATU News would like to do a TV segment on it. Eric is working to set up that interview with WSD.
LAP Program
TEAM HS is excited to use LAP funding to add 20 hours a week for an Instructional Assistant position. The position should be hired within the next few weeks.
WIS DATA update for LAP: January/February were months to collect benchmark data, determine student growth, discuss growth (teachers, coach, intervention specialist, principal) and make program adjustments for LAP students.
Students exiting LAP services:
2nd Grade-4
3rd Grade-17
4th Grade-18
Of the students who are continuing in LAP services, many have progressed from working on phonics skills to reading fluently (accuracy, rate, expression). This shows marked progress, however not enough to exit LAP services.
Our student data indicates overall that students are beginning to make enough progress to close the achievement gap. We are seeing a year of growth for many of our students from September - January. Many of our students have 1-2 years to make up so a year’s growth in 1 year isn't sufficient.
Below shows the percent of students who have already achieved 1 year’s growth:
2nd Grade- 23%
3rd Grade- 30%
4th Grade- 51%
Lewis River Academy
The past couple of weeks, our LRA teachers have been initiating classroom and online discussions regarding Digital Citizenship. In their discussions, they have focused on how technology can be both helpful and hurtful to others. The students were able to reflect on what types of things should be shared on social media, and what should be discussed or resolved in person.
Many of our K-8 students recently participated in the "Principal's Math Challenge", which has become an annual tradition here at LRA. The reward for those who score 90% or better. . . .a pizza party with me as their grateful principal! Students who received 100% were able to choose what kind of pizza we would have at our party this week. We had nearly half of the students who participated score 100%, which is fantastic! What a great bunch of hard-working kids we have at LRA!
Nurse Services
Health staff continue to see students daily for minor and major injuries/illnesses/health conditions. There have been 5,881 documented health room visits during the first 113 school days, as of March 11th. Out of the 5,881 visits, 4 students were sent via ambulance to the ER, and 493 students were released to family for illness/injuries.
Channtel has updated and/or added multiple health care plans for new and current students to the district, which also requires parent education and staff training/education. We continue to work with students and their families on updating immunizations, mostly for our new enrolled students. Also, Channtel has completed our Nursing district assessment.
Special Services
On Tuesday, 3/13/2018, our yearly Safety Net submission was sent to OSPI. This effort can generate hundreds and thousands of dollars for Special Education in Woodland School District. The Special Services Department wants to thank all those involved in the months of auditing and improving our Safety Net paperwork for students highly impacted within our district. I am especially grateful for our WSD Safety Net Team and Michelle for putting it all together!
Title Program
The WMS Title program is gearing up for quarter 4. We are looking at student data and making adjustments to student placement in extension classes for the fourth quarter. We also continue to work with students and families to increase skills in both reading and math. Some students not only receive extra help during the extension block but also during lunch or homeroom with Mrs. Eilts to help them successfully achieve targets.
TEAM High School
TEAM continues to have over 90 HS students. We do have five seniors ready to graduate, and we anticipate around twenty more to finish by June. We will be offering Saturday school to them to make sure all graduation requirements are met.
Transitional Bilingual Intervention Program
Maribel has been doing a wonderful job working with the schools to schedule translators for conferences. This has been extra for her, and the reports from the schools have been very positive. WPS met with Maribel, and they decided together that Milagros will set up the translating for WPS. I appreciate Maribel and Milagros working together to support our families.
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We are springing forward into the final weeks of 2017-18. I appreciate all I am learning from these great departments in Woodland School District. Thank you for your ongoing support!
~Jake