Celebrations & Fun: Woodland Primary has been celebrating a year of wonderful growth and exploration! Children recognized their accomplishments at the June awards assembly, invited parents into classrooms for special events honoring the learning they have engaged in, and everyone joined for play during the WPS Field Day. It has been a special and very enjoyable time as our school prepares for reconfiguration next year. It has been wonderful to make lasting memories together and make certain every learner leaves with a joyful perspective about school.
Academic Data: The month of June always brings careful data analysis to inform the instructional program for the coming year. Reflection allows for needed modifications and adjustments, as well as affirming what is working well and should be maintained. Academic growth is measured in different ways, but the summative tool used is iReady. Student growth trends are very encouraging, showing significant progress toward children reading at grade level. WPS kindergarten students enter school with varied degrees of readiness and our data affirms that by the end of first grade, many more children each year are making a year or more of progress. This indicates students are able to engage as scholars in the academic environment. When this is maintained and improved as children grow, academic achievement gaps begin to close. The progress this year has been extremely encouraging!
Behavior Data: Analysis of behavior data this year compared to last year shows cause for great celebration! Overall, there were 351 less referrals in 2018-19 than in 2017-18. This is the result of the dedicated work of the student support team at WPS. Social worker Spring Dowse and our team of highly trained paraprofessionals support teachers and children in the classroom as well as in the student support center. The impact of improved behavior management on academic achievement is very significant. Their efforts are making a true and profound difference!
WaKIDS: Data from the 2018-19 WaKIDS inventory of kindergarten readiness affirms the observations of WPS staff. Less children entering kindergarten this year were ready for school. In 2017-18, only 38% of kindergarten children displayed kindergarten readiness in each of six domains analyzed. This year, that number decreased to 31.7%. This may seem discouraging, but it informs our future work and explains some of the academic and behavioral growth trends we have noticed this year. This is great rationale for more effort to engage with preschool educators and other early learning partners. Together we can support our youngest learners and their families to enter school ready to succeed. We will put considerable energy into this work in the coming year.