To: Asha Riley, Superintendent
From: Jen Havig, Principal
Date: December 11, 2025
RE: Columbia Elementary School Board Report
School Improvement Plan
Columbia continues to work toward our school improvement goals through solid core instruction in the classroom as well as small group instruction and customized intervention for individual students. After our soft start for the 1:1 interventions, we added more students and showed teachers how they can use AI to assist with creating activities to build specific skills where a student needs support. We have exited some students out of interventions after the targeted intervention decreased the learning and skill gap. Through our 1:1 interventions, we have been better able to meet the needs of students at their level and increase their skills.
Building-wide, we are emphasizing All in, All the Time, a focus on student engagement during whole group direct instruction. We have facilitated professional development for teachers and paraprofessionals in student engagement strategies. So far, we have focused on two specific strategies, turn & talk and choral response. Instructional Coach, Ashley Kleinschmidt, and I have continued the conversation during PLC meetings, where we have teachers set goals for themselves on how they are refining their practices and using it in more content areas. In addition, we follow up with how they have increased both the use and the effectiveness of these engagement strategies. In our conversations, teachers have shared how holding high expectations for all students has increased student participation from students who are reluctant to participate or engage. In classroom walkthroughs, both Ashley and I have noticed an up tick in the utilization of both turn and talk and choral response.
Recognition
I would like to recognize the LAP team at Columbia. Sarah Taylor leads an excellent team who embody serving students by helping them grow their literacy skills. In addition to Sarah, the LAP team includes Kathi Netland, Jessica Sheehan, and Cindy Elliott. Colette Calvillo, the para in the ML program, also works with the LAP team and should be recognized.
I would also like to recognize our RTI team. The RTI team consists of teachers, special education teachers, counselor, student advocate, principal, psych, speech language pathologist, LAP teacher, and is lead by the instructional coach. It meets weekly to discuss potential supports for students who have been referred by teachers via our student of concern form. The RTI team is looking inward at their practices and striving to find ways to make the RTI process more transparent and accessible for teachers. Teachers who have referred students to RTI have been instrumental in providing feedback to the team to make the process less daunting for teachers and effective for students.
Upcoming Events
We have our monthly character trait recognition assembly on December 15th. I am thrilled to introduce our new mascot at this assembly. The students nominated and voted on a name for the mascot, and Columbia Elementary’s mascot is Woody the Beaver Kit. The students were excited to be a part of this process.
We have scheduled an Open House for families on Tuesday, January 27th from 5-6 pm. We wanted to have an opportunity to showcase what our students are learning. We opted not to have an open house in the fall since we held conferences for all students before the start of the year.
We also have a few field trips on deck. Our 4th graders will be visiting Fort Vancouver, and our 3rd graders are going to see a production of Frog and Toad. This play connects with the first unit of our CKLA curriculum. The first unit in 3rd grade focuses on fairy tales, and one of the stories is an excerpt of Wind in the Willows. Students also compare and contrast the watching a play and reading a story and how the story is conveyed. The students are really looking forward to watching the production. Both field trips will take place on February 19th.