March Herd Post

WOW! It is already mid-March! Spring break is just around the corner and the end of the school year is rapidly approaching. I don’t know why that struck me this morning as I sat down to write March’s Herd Message. Perhaps it is because of the snow outside and cool temperatures that are keeping me from believing that spring is just around the corner.

I wanted to take a moment to again thank all of the presenters that shared of their time and talents at this past month’s inservice. I received numerous emails sharing how much staff members enjoyed learning from each other, how much they enjoyed having the flexibility to choose sectionals relevant to their interests or needs, and how they would love to have similar inservices in the future. I enjoyed seeing people take risks and sharing their talents with staff, as well as seeing the high engagement levels of staff as we learned about new tools, methods, and approaches. I am looking forward to future inservices of this nature, and would like to encourage others to think about what you skills of the trade you would like to share with staff the next time we have a call for proposals. There is a lot of talent right here in our own backyard, I want to make sure we continue to share it.

On a different note, I wanted to let everyone know how pleased I was to review our mid-year growth rates, as measured by the MAP assessment.  We have made significant progress toward our goal of being in the top ten percent. Everyone should be proud of your cummulative efforts to maximize growth for each and every student.  Below is a chart of our K-8th grade district-wide average growth rates.

2012-2013, 2013-2014 National Percentile Rank: Students that Met or Exceeded Their Growth Targets Grades K-8

Subject	2012-2013 Fall-Spring Results	2013-2014 Fall-Winter Results	Net Improvement
Reading	38th	75th	38
Math	50th	80th	30
Language	26th	60th	35