We’re growing and I do not mean only in our enrollment. Everyone, staff and students spent a great deal of time focused on growing in our knowledge and understanding of content last year. At the end of the school year we took inventory of the progress our students made and posed questions when progress was lacking. We value the importance of being informed and also being reflective of our practices. I was thrilled to welcome our staff back and to celebrate some areas of progress. Below are some sets of data we reviewed and took time to celebrate.
All of our students Kinder - 5th grade are assessed multiple times a year using the Developmental Reading Assessment. Our end of year results are:
DRA:
Kinder - 90% of our students read on or above grade level.
First grade - 73% of our students read on or above grade level.
Second grade - 59% of our students read on or above grade level.
Third grade - 47% of our students read on or above grade level.
Fourth grade - 81% of our students read on or above grade level.
Fifth grade - 85% of our students read on or above grade level.
We initiated a math fact fluency focus using two different programs and the results at the end of the year are as follows:
Dreambox - Kinder only
11 standards were met before school let out.
We saw a 67% growth.
Formative Loop - First through fifth grade
1st grade -51% of our students have completed the first grade loop. 82% of our first graders know their addition facts.
2nd grade - 43% of our 2nd graders have completed their loop. 95% of our second graders know their addition facts and are on their way with subtraction facts. We have 35 2nd graders that have mastered all addition and subtraction facts within 20 with automaticity, which is the state standard at 2nd grade.
3rd grade -27% of our students have completed the 3rd grade loop. The state says 3rd graders should be able to recall facts to multiply up to 10 by 10 with automaticity and recall corresponding division. 6 of our 3rd graders have mastered all operations so far. Several of our 3rd graders struggled with some of the skills introduced in 1st and 2nd grade;therefore, they have not made it to the multiplication and division facts yet.
4th grade - 28% of our students completed the 4th grade loop. 46 of our 4th graders have completed the 3rd grade standard of all operations.
5th grade - 36% of our 5th graders completed the 5th loop. 93 of our 5th graders have completed the 3rd grade standard of all operations.
As a campus we selected some areas to focus on during the school year based upon data and the growth demonstrated by our 3rd - 5th grade students on STAAR is as follows:
Focus Areas:
MATH
|
3rd
|
4th
|
5th
|
Whole Numbers
|
|
0
|
-5
|
Add/Sub.
|
+4
|
|
|
Mult./Div.
|
+1
|
|
|
All Operations
|
|
|
+3
|
Geometry
|
|
+5
|
0
|
Measurement
|
+1
|
+9
|
0
|
READING
|
3rd
|
4th
|
5th
|
Fiction
|
+5
|
+5
|
-3
|
Summarization
|
+1
|
|
-6
|
SCIENCE
|
5th
|
Force, Motion and Energy
|
-7
|
Earth
|
+9
|
The State has 4 areas they monitor from year to year and our results are as follows:
|
2016
|
2017
|
Growth
|
|
Student Achievement
|
87
|
89
|
+2
|
|
Student Progress
|
40
|
37
|
-3
|
|
Closing Gaps
|
46
|
49
|
+3
|
Hispanic and Economically Disadvantaged
|
Post Secondary Readiness
|
51
|
53
|
+2
|
|
We are showing progress, which is important. Our goal is 100% progress, meaning everyone is growing and learning. We will continue to work as a staff to create meaningful relationships, plan purposefully, and empower our students to think and problem solve when exploring and learning.
We have determined our focus areas this year and for the most part our data indicates we need to stay the course. We need more professional development, collaborative planning and imbed more opportunities for our students to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the content.
We are looking at our results in comparison with 40 other campuses with similar demographics. We are growing, and we will keep seeking ways to help our students in their learning. We are not in the top quartile of our like-campuses. We have reached students and made progress. We have grown and our students have grown in areas that are not reported on a STAAR test too. Lots to celebrate at CHES.
I am thrilled for another school year to work with such talented, hard working staff, a dynamic group of students and their supportive families.
