Saint Mark's Year in Review
2017 - 2018
A new look for the Year in Review
Catholic Identity
The ECFL program will start with a new group in the fall as well. Another program that has that has established itself as a wonderful blessing to our students is Ignite. The Ignite program met weekly with our 6th and 8th graders and offered retreats for our 7th graders. Next year, 6th grade will meet weekly with Ignite, and 7th and 8th grade will meet every other week. We have also laid the ground work for our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program for preschoolers and kindergarteners. Ms. Shannon and Ms. Johnson will bring their students to this beautiful class for religion in the atrium that is being designed and made this summer.
Academic Excellence
We hope to send teachers to Learning and the Brain again next year, and we also hope to partner with Ms. Werner again. In addition, we have located a great resource to help our teachers further develop our students' problem-solving skills and higher ordered thinking skills. Another area where we hope to build off of current growth is in our use of MAP/NWEA testing and data. Two professional development sessions this year have helped our teachers to use this data well, and we are planning for a third session in the fall. Further, we plan to test three times next year (fall, winter, and spring). Because the test we use is so efficient, we will be able to test them in a short bit of time and not lose much teaching time at all. Then, with the winter testing added, we will have an additional data point for improving student learning, and we plan to offer our second set of parent-teacher conferences in the late winter and include test results in these conversations.
Financial Strength
Engaging Communications
Other odds and ends
In a few other areas of note, we have enjoyed some great successes. If you have visited the school office, you have noticed a panoply of trophies. Our sports teams enjoyed great success this year, including first place trophies in track, basketball, and volleyball. Wow! This spring, we ventured into musical theater for our spring 5-8 program, and it was really a treat. Students also performed admirably at the diocesan religion bee, regional History Day, and Big Bang science/STEM fair.
This summer, you can watch for one specific visible upgrade - the implementation of our gala fund-a-need. We hope to make physical progress this summer, to create the front porch effect and beautify our southeast entrance area. It is a large project, but we have a great team working on it.
Lastly, there are some changes afoot with regard to classical education, and a new principal on the horizon as well. Saint Mark's has done many great things in its 100+ years. God is so good, that there is great reason to believe that the new leadership and exploration of classical education at Saint Mark's can be a beautiful and wonderful thing. Thank you for all that you have done this year to partner with us and to help one another succeed in the goal of raising up wonderful children of God at Saint Mark's School. God bless you!