Instructional Services Newsletter
December 9, 2019
2nd Quarter Update
I hope everyone enjoyed a restful and rejuvenating Thanksgiving break with family and friends. In just a few weeks, we will be celebrating Christmas and the New Year. Time is constant, but it seems to be moving very fast. It reminds me that we need to treat each minute with family or in the classroom with “intentionality” to ensure we do not miss an opportunity to strengthen a relationship or support a student. On behalf of the Instructional Services team, we appreciate your leadership and service to our students at Branson Public Schools. #WeAreBranson
ACADEMIC SERVICES
APR
At the November Board of Education meeting, the Annual Performance Review (APR) was presented. The biggest change is no points or percentage of points were calculated by DESE to provide an overall score for districts or buildings. Overall, I support this change.
The Annual Performance Review measures five standards, including the Academic performance of all students, Sub-group performance pertaining to the five historically disadvantaged groups (Free/Reduced Lunch, Special Education, English Language Learners, Hispanic, and Black), College and Career Readiness, Graduation rates, and Attendance. I am proud to report Branson R-IV School district is above the state average in all categories, with the exception of attendance. A few highlights include:
Branson R-IV is out-performing the state in English, Math, and Science.
Branson's most disadvantaged students are exceeding growth expectations compared to their state peer groups.
Branson R-IV is "on-track" in each of the College and Career readiness indicators.
The four-year graduation rate is holding steady at 95.1% over the past three years.
4,028 students attended school 90% of the time, which is 88% of the total population in 2018-19. 594 students missed more than 17 days of school.
IF the state was assigning points, Branson R-IV would have earned 127.5 out of 130 points or 97.5%.
Over the past 15 years, the district has seen a steady change in demographics with a significant increase in students qualifying for free and reduced lunch. Branson R-IV continues to answer the call to ensure all students receive a quality education. Great teachers make the difference.
Chronic Absenteeism
Over the past several years, Branson Public Schools, like many other schools in the state and across the nation, are trying to reverse the troubling trend of chronic absenteeism. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% of the school year, which is 17 days during the academic year. In 2018-19, 594 (9%) Branson Pirate students were considered chronically absent. Principals and action teams have been analyzing the data, reading research, and designing tiered intervention plans. However, the most impactful strategy for reducing chronic absenteeism is cultivating positive conditions for learning. When students and families feel welcomed, engaged, and see hope, they are inclined to attend school more often.
Thank you for providing #BransonHope to our students and families by contacting families through email, text messages, phone calls, and notes, letting them know we missed them when they are absent from our classrooms and hallways. Teacher leadership and care is the foundation for all students to receive a quality education and reverse the troubling trend of chronic absenteeism.
SPECIAL SERVICES
New IEP Icon in SIS
As IEP meetings are held this school year, special education teachers will upload IEP documents to a new red IEP icon in SIS. This will work like the 504 icon, so teachers can click the red IEP icon next to the student’s picture and get directly to the IEP, behavior intervention plan, etc. All IEPs will be uploaded within the red icon by the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Until then, if the red IEP icon is not next to the student’s picture, please go to Student Documents to access the IEP.
CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, ASSESSMENT & FEDERAL PROGRAMS
EOC & MAP Practice Items
All teachers in grades 3 and above who teach core subjects have the option to give their students a digital practice test in the EOC and MAP platform. To learn more about the Practice Assessments available, please look at the link for MAP Practice Forms or EOC Practice Assessments.
Christmas Assistance
The Christmas Assistance program fliers have been distributed to families. The social work office is looking for sponsors to donate gifts or money. They are collecting socks, underwear, hats, gloves, hoodies, and toys for children from birth through 12th grade. They also collect hygiene items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, etc. If you would consider holding a donation drive in your building to support the social work office, it would be greatly appreciated. Christmas Assistance pick up will be held on two dates this year: Saturday, December 14th, from 9:00-3:00 and Tuesday, December 17th, from 9:00-2:00.
NWEA Winter Window
The winter NWEA testing window runs from November 26-December 28th. The winter testing window is an optional testing window for buildings to utilize. NWEA test can be given to students 5 times in a year. If individual teachers would like to administer the NWEA test to their students they should just communicate that to the building principal.
DIGITAL LEARNING
Willsub/Sub Training
97.32% fill rate for teachers
84.33% fill rate for paras
We will start sub training again in January in hopes of adding to our pool! If you know anyone who would be a great sub, encourage them to apply!
Tri-Lakes Educational Summit
Big shoutout to maintenance, custodial staff, food service and technology departments as well as the HS and PDC committee members for making the day go off without a hitch! We had a great day of learning!! Here is a link to the summary of the awesome day of learning!
Kickup - PD Hours
Just a reminder - ALL professional development/learning opportunities should be logged into Kickup. Even if you have met your required hours, you should continue tracking these events. This will be turned into your principal at the end of the year at checkout. If you have several activities that are similar, you may group them together in one entry. Please make sure and give an overview of all activities and combine your hours into that entry.
GOCSD Innovation Summit
The GOCSD Innovation Summit dates have been solidified (May 26-28)! We have added a MOCanvas event as a pre-conference to it and the schedule is a little different! We also are bringing in 2 big keynote speakers that I think you will really like! Michael Bonner was featured on Ellen Degeneres show and his impact on his school in North Carolina and Jon Gordon who is the author of several leadership books; Power of Positive Leadership, Power or Positive Team and Energy Bus (as well as others). I know several of our athletic teams have done books studies with these books as well. The flyer with all the details can be found here: https://www.smore.com/0vbh5-gocsd-innovation-summit-2020
DATA OFFICE
Instructional Services Team
Dr. Michelle Brenner
Mrs. DeAnna Sheets
Dr. Samantha Henderson
Ms. Angela Torix