I want to take a moment to let each of you know what a pleasure it has been to join the Elkhorn Area School District team. The start of the school year has flown by, and I feel we are off to a great start. The positive nature of the staff and willingness to explore future possibilities, try new things, and refine current practice has been outstanding. We live in a time in education when many forces are converging…. Whether it be political, society, or self imposed, it is a lot to do. I know that we will be able to accomplish all that is at hand, we have the right staff, with the right attitude to accomplish all that is and will be required of us.
As I walked through several of the buildings last week I had the opportunity to catch people while working in their Response To Intervention (RTI) groups. Wow! I walked away very impressed with what was going on. Whether it was in larger groups, small groups, or in some cases one on one, students were engaged in meaningful, rigorous, personalized activities, and their learning was being checked for understanding. I witnessed numerous textbook examples of how RTI should be delivered. These efforts will have a tremendous impact on our students achievement and skill development! Keep up the great work!
As you know we have several committees representing the district and beginning to work on the top identified needs of the district. Below is a very brief update of each committee’s efforts to this point.
1 to 1: This committee is working on developing a plan to implement a 1 to 1 computing program for our students. The group began to identify what would need to occur in order to have a successful program and implementation. I believe this initiative can have a significant impact on student learning and personalizing our education for each of our students. The following are some short video clips that were shared with the group to help develop a common understanding: 21st Century Learner, Why one to One?, What can it look like?, What can it look like part 2 The following is an article that we also read with the purpose of identifying what must be done in order to have a successful program. Findings from one to one studies
Virtual School: This committee began exploration into what are possibilities of a EASD virtual school or program. Over 30 of our students that are open enrolled out are enrolled in virtual schools at a loss of just over $200,000 in revenue a year. Many of these enrolled in the past two years. The following video is approximately 20 minutes, but gives great insight into the potential power of tapping into virtual learning, and shows that we can get access at no cost in some cases. What we are Learning From Online Education Our next steps are to meet with a virtual school expert in order to gather recommendations.
STEM Committee: This committee also met and began exploring additional opportunities related to STEM education. The committee members will attended a STEM conference in Milwaukee this past Tuesday and are beginning to gather additional ideas and potential resources.
Facilities Committee: Met this past week and began to identify a potential timeline to follow in order to address facility needs related to space, usage, and safety. The potential target date for a referendum could be the general election next fall, November, 4th 2014. This is is very much a preliminary discussion and no decisions have been made.
Bullying and Harassment Committee: The committee held its initial meeting and has begun to explore the best manner in which to establish a uniform district approach in addressing bullying and harassment.
