Job Change Announcement to the Wheatland Community

January 15, 2013

Dear Wheatland Community:

At this time, it is with mixed emotions, that I must inform you that I am resigning my position as superintendent of the Wheatland J1 School District effective June 30^th 2013. I have accepted an offer to serve as superintendent of the Elkhorn School District starting July 1^st 2013.

I want to thank students, parents, community members, staff and the school board, for all of the support and friendship you have provided my family and me. From the moment, we moved to Wheatland we felt welcomed and appreciated. During the past three years, the friendships that have been made and the work that has been accomplished has made my time in Wheatland a highlight in my life that I will not forget. This work has been the result of all stakeholders coming together for a unified purpose. I know that this will continue and Wheatland will continue to be a leader at the state and national level in K-8 education and the development of our countries future innovators.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my tenure as an employee of Wheatland School District, and I look forward to continuing our efforts during the next few months. The school board will assure that the transition to the next school leader is smooth and seamless and I have offered to assist in anyway. I have also agreed to serve as a consultant/adviser to the district in the future if needed. I leave Wheatland with nothing but positive feelings and experiences and I look forward to maintaining my relationship with the district in a different capacity.

Sincerely,

Jason Tadlock

Our Visit With Sandy Jacoby and Education Matters

I love talk radio and always had a secret fantasy of someday being a talk radio host. So I found the experience quite enjoyable and an honor to be asked to join Mrs. Jacoby to discuss the great work going on at Wheatland.

Below is copy of a press release regarding our recent discussion with Sandy Jacoby, host of Education Matters WGTD 91.1 FM.

Press Release:

Wheatland School District Superintendent, Jason Tadlock, and Principal, Patti Clements recently sat down with Sandy Jacoby, one of the hosts of Education Matters, a Saturday morning talk show on WGTD 91.1 FM dedicated to topics related to education in Wisconsin. Ms. Jacoby had approached the Wheatland administrators and asked them to share the story of Wheatland’s recent transformation into one of the leading K-8 STEM education schools in the state, a leader in technology integration, and their focused approach on maximizing growth for every student and providing unique cutting edge educational opportunities for ALL students. Mrs. Clements stated, “I really enjoyed having the opportunity to share the stories of Wheatland and the great work the staff has done over the past few years. I am so proud of all the work our teachers have done and for the excellent support we get from our community.” Mr. Tadlock added, “I wish we had more time. So many people have done so many wonderful things to better the district. It was impossible to get it all in and I don’t want anyone to feel slighted.” Mr. Tadlock continued to say, “We failed to share that by investing in the right areas, the students and the staff, we can provide a high quality education to our students, which has had the positive return of putting the district’s finances back in order.” The program will air Saturday morning January, 19^th at 10:30 AM on 91.1 FM WGTD. If you miss the aired program, the program will be archived on WGTD’s Education Matters web page http://www.wgtd.org/Education_Matters.asp. 

Dear Parents and Guardians,

It is with a heavy heart that I prepare this communication. As all of you are probably already aware, last Friday our country suffered a terrible tragedy when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and took the lives of 26 people. As a parent of young children myself, and as a school administrator I have found this incident to be very upsetting as many of you have as well. My heart and I am sure yours as well goes out to the families and communities impacted by this event.

I have received several emails from parents with questions that one would expect after such an incident: How would my school handle such an incident? What will the school do to assure my student’s safety? Will there be a specific communication or message from the school? What do I say to my child? I hope this communication provides answers to those questions, useful information, and to the best of my ability reassurance.

First and foremost, I want everyone to keep in mind that schools are statistically the safest location for your child/student to be. Be sure to reassure your student(s) of this if the topic of school safety arises. While it is highly unlikely that we will ever be in the same situation as Sandy Hook Elementary school, we still prepare for the improbable because we recognize that it is possible. We have in place specific protocols and procedures for school shootings, threatening incidents nearby, and threatening people inside the building. They are designed to strike the balance between providing a safe environment, while maintaining a welcoming, healthy environment.

We regularly revisit our response protocols and from time to time make changes as necessary. For example, two years ago we added the automated communication system. We primarily use it for communicating semi-regular school notices, but the driving force for its implementation was to communicate to all parents in the case of emergency or school cancelations. We purposefully selected a web based application so that communication could be pushed out to parents from any location. In the case of an emergency, be sure to keep your phone/email nearby as we will use that to communicate updates, important information, and specific directions if needed. If you have not been receiving the automated phone calls or emails, please contact Carolyn Spangler in the school office 262-537-2216 EXT 3903 and she can update your profile.  

Following this most recent incident, I plan to consult with local law enforcement and seek their input as to whether or not we need to revise our current response plan. We have all seen a noted change in the method used by the Colorado shooter and now the Connecticut shooter. I would like their input as to whether or not our current plan of action is still their recommendation. I am sure this will be reviewed at the state and national level as well.  As a parent and an administrator I want to assure you that we have the best procedures in place as recommended by law enforcement and state agencies and I will strive to assure that we continue to have them in place.

Three years ago I attended a special FBI sponsored training on school shootings. What I took away from the training was that the only way you can prevent something like this from happening is to have open communication with stakeholders and stop the event before it takes place. In almost every incident there have been signs and “chatter” before it took place. If you or child ever hears anything, sees a facebook posting, a note, an email, or anything that would cause concern. Don’t sit on it. Refer it to authorities or to us at the school and we will refer it to the proper channel. We will communicate this message to all students in an age appropriate manner.

In regards to communicating with children, the school will follow the recommendations outlined by the National Association of School Psychologists. I linked a copy of the document to this post so thatyou can read it as well. Please be sure to review it as there are recommendations for what parents can do as well. In short, we as adults should model calmness and control; Reassure the children that they are safe; Remind them that trustworthy people are in charge; Let them know it is ok to feel upset; Observe their emotional state (behaviors as well as words); Keep your explanations developmentally appropriate.

I wish you all well and it is my hope and prayer that we never have to deal with such an event. I want all of you to know that the staff at Wheatland loves and cares for your children very much, and we will do everything we can to protect your children as if they are our own. Thank you for taking the time to read this message and I wish you all a very happy holidays. You will soon have extra time to spend with your children. Be sure to hold them close and let them know how much you care for them.

Sincerely,

Jason Tadlock

District Administrator

 

Wheatland Students to be Showcased at State Convention

I am very pleased to announce that Wheatland Jt 1 School District has been selected by the Project Lead the Way State Leadership Team to represent Gateway to Technology STEM education on Wednesday Januarary 23, 2013 (from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm) at the 92nd Annual State Education Convention. Wheatland is among just six other districts that were chosen from a field of nominations to be highlighted at this event. Four to five students along with their teacher Mrs. Zirbell will be display one of their current or past projects at the event.

10 Attend SLATE Conference 2012

Wheatland recently sent a team of 10 staff members to Wisconsin's School Leaders Advancing Technology in Education (SLATE). The conference was exceptional, with 1000 of Wisconsin's educator's sharing innovative practices and resources with each other. Our team of teachers have returned to school with many new ideas and great resources to share with all the staff. 

I wanted to take a moment and recognize Rachel and Thomas Hartley for their efforts as presenters. The title of their presentation was Extreme Lesson Makeover: https://sites.google.com/a/wcspk8.org/elm/ Be sure to visit their presentation website as it is full of great resources. By all accounts they did a fabulous job! It is always a little nerve-racking to present in front of over 100 teachers with standing room only. Great Job Rachel and Tom, way to represent Wheatland!

This was my second time attending SLATE and I have to say this experience was very different from the first. This time it was very refreshing to see and hear that as a school we are WAY ahead of the curve and our teachers are now at the forefront and cutting edge of technology integration. I want to let all the staff know that I am very proud of all the work you have done to make Wheatland a shinning star in regards to technology integration and 21st century preparation. I suspect that next year we'll have a similar number of presenters at slate as we did at the Wisconsin Association of Middle Level Educator's conference (6). The work you are doing is truly leading the way!

New State Report Cards

The public versions of the preliminary School Report Cards will be released Monday, October 22. The report cards will be available at approximately 8:00 a.m. through a link on the Accountability Reform page at http://dpi.wi.gov/oea/acct/accountability.html. These report cards are generated using the Fall 2011 WKCE Test Scores. Due to the test being a fall test it is really a reflection of an achievement level primarily developed during the previous school year. In this case, the 2010-2011 school year.

We desired to have a more timely assessment of our school’s current performance level and determine whether or not the initiatives we began to put in place in the 2011-2012 school year have had a positive impact. In order to do this we used the formulas used to create the state report cards and substituted current Fall 2012 Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) data in place of WKCE data. By using the MAP data and MAP/WKCE linking study reports we are able to create a projected report card for the 2012-2013 school year. 

I am pleased to announce that while we have several areas are still in need of improvement. We are making marked progress and we should move from the meets expectations category in 2011-2012 to the Exceeds Expectations category in 2012-2013.

How are we addressing the new changes to the state assessment?

Since the start of last school year we began communicating with parents regarding the change in the state WKCE test cut scores, and the impact that it would have regarding the number of students that are considered proficient and advanced. In preparation for the new standard, we raised the cut for students identified as in need of additional academic support from the recommended 25th percentile to the 45th percentile. This meant that we began providing additional school intensive instruction in reading and math to many more students, and we worked to get a greater number of students into our summer school program. This past summer we experienced a summer school enrollment of approximately 45% of our student body.

After the release of the NAEP cuts we realized that we needed to raise cut scores for academic interventions even higher. We have since pushed them to approximately the 55th percentile range for mathematics and the 65th percentile range for reading. You may have noticed that your student in the past was not recommended for academic interventions, but now they are. This is not necessarily a reflection of deteriorating skills, but more likely a reflection of the significant change in what is considered a proficient skill level.

How are we working to improve overall student achievement?

Since the fall of 2011 we have implemented the following:
•       New rigorous math curriculum at the middle school and primary grade levels that has resulted in excellent student growth
•       Two excellent literacy programs designed to address individual student needs and maximize growth for all students.
•       K-8 Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics program
•       After school tutoring and homework help programs
•       K-8 World language program
•       Academic intervention programs for students projected to be below the new proficiency cuts
•       New science and social studies curriculums designed to be integrated with English and math
•       Continued staff development related best instructional practices
•       New focus on student growth and proper use of MAP data to guide instruction

We are excited about the work we have done to this point and we have seen excellent initial results reflected on our local assessments, but we are still in the early stages of our initiatives. We don't expect to see significant changes to show on the state school report card for another 1-2 years. One has to keep in mind that the report card that is being released at 8:00 A.M. on October 22nd, 2012 was student performance from the fall of 2011 WKCE, which really reflects student learning from the 2010-2011 academic year.

Because the report card data is antiquated, our primary use of the report card will be to identify how we were doing two years ago and identify trend data as we move forward. However, our primary data focus is on assessment tools that give us immediate, accurate results so that we can make instructional decisions in real-time rather than a year later.

What are the local assessment tools that you use?

Listed below the primary assessment tools we use:

•       Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), a test that is taken three times a year and gives immediate results. The MAP assessment identifies a student’s instructional level or Zone of Proximal Development and provides us a benchmark.
•       AIMS WEB is also administered three times a year as a benchmark test to all students, and we also use it for short targeted assessments (1-2 minute probes) every week for students receiving additional academic support. This allows us to track student progress on a weekly basis and make adjustments as necessary.
•       STAR Reading and Math assessments as bench mark tests at least three times a year.

By using the data from all three assessment we can get an accurate “real-time” picture as to how are students are performing, what their needs are, and if we are making progress toward meeting their academic goals. These data points are valuable to us because they are immediate, accurate, and help us make informed instructional decisions. As such, they essentially render the WKCE as practically useless. That being said, because the WKCE is the primary focus of the public eye, we recognize that we cannot rush through it to just get it done and out of the way. In the future we will spread out the test sessions, and take steps to assure that the students give their best effort on the test, so that the results are an accurate reflection of our student’s achievement level. Even though the data may not be very timely or relevant, it is still in the public eye and we want it the results to reflect the good work your students are doing in our school.

As we move forward our focus will still remain on providing students with access and opportunity to rigorous relevant experiences that will prepare them for the 21st century. We are confident that by doing so our students will experience increased student achievement. In addition, in two years when the new state assessments are finalized, we know that our students will be well prepared to demonstrate the higher level problem solving, technology, and application skills that they will have gained.

Competency Based Education

I found this article very interesting and quite compelling. http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/10/17/... It fits into the model of learning that Sir Ken Robinson refers to, and what we have been striving for in Wheatland. Competency Based Education (CBE) is not a new concept. It's been discussed in educational circles since the seventies and in many ways it was practiced in one room school houses. I believe that the common core will begin to force all schools back in into the direction of focusing on individual students and maximizing growth for every child.