CES Weekly Buzz April 11, 2016
From the Desk of Mrs. Proskey
The VARSITY SHOP IS NOW ONLINE!!!!!
Dates to Remember...
- 4/11- 10:40 B.M. (RR) Proskey, Schwenk, Jefferies
- 4/11- 2:00 B.T. (ACR) Proskey, Thompson, Craft
- 4/12- 10:05 C.T. (ACR) K. Young, Proskey, Ahlenius
- 4/12- 12:00 J.M. (ACR) Arvelo, Overmyer, Proskey, Kinney
- 4/12- 2:30 R.C. (ACR) Miller, Renneker, Proskey, Kinney
- 4/12- TERRA NOVA Testing Begins (4/12-4/15)
- 4/12- Spring Picture Day
- 4/12- 4th Grade Band Tryouts
- 4/13- 12:40 L.M. (ACR) Kinney, Proskey, Berndt
- 4/13- 5th Grade Field Trip to the Dunes
- 4/14- 8:00am School Board Breakfast/Tour of the Building
- 4/14- 9:00am Science Fair Preview
- 4/14- 12:40 K.H. (ACR) Smith, Proskey, Kinney
- 4/14- 3:15 Textbook Adoption Meeting in the DLL
- 4/14- Science Fair (Public Viewing 3:30-5:30)
- 4/15- 8:15 K.F. (ACR) Proskey, Thompson, Keyser
- 4/15- 8:15-9:30 Special Ed Transition Training @ CHS for Thompson, Young, Arvelo, Cowen, Kinney
- 4/15-6th Grade Field Trip to The Shedd Aquarium
- 4/15- Sports Spectacular (Volleyball starts @ 6:00)
TERRA NOVA 2nd Grade Test Schedule- April 12th-15th
----------------ISTEP Mandatory Practice Testing-------------- 3rd- 6th Grade/ April 11th through April 14th
- Monday, 4/11- 6th Grade
- Tuesday, 4/12- 5th Grade
- Wednesday, 4/13- 4th Grade
- Thursday, 4/14- 3rd Grade
---------------------ISTEP Testing Schedule-------------------- 3rd -6th Grade/ April 18th Through May 2nd
4/18 Mon--- Math 3 tests
4/19 Tues-- English 3 tests
4/20 Wed-- Science 2 tests
Grade 5
4/20 Wed-- Math 2 tests
4/21 Thurs- Math 1 test/ English 2 tests
4/22 Fri----- English 1 test/ Soc Studies 2 tests
Grade 4
4/25 Mon-- Math 3 tests
4/26 Tues- English 3 tests
4/27 Wed- Science 2 tests
Grade 3
4/28 Thurs- Math 3 tests
4/29 Fri----- English 2 tests
5/2 Mon-- English 1 test
Culver Max Move Free Event
Please register at: Dana.neer@culver.org
Saturday, Apr 23, 2016, 10:00 AM
Culver Academy Naval Building
Recycling Club
Recycling Club will be collecting plastic bags through April 21st and will meet in Mrs. Cultice's classroom after school until 4:00 on the dates below.
- April 12th & 21st
- April 28th -- Final Party
Blessings in a Backpack Needs Packing Volunteers!!!
If you would like to help volunteer packing Blessings Backpacks, please see times and dates below.... (it usually takes about an hour)
Packers-
Please mark or update your calendars to reflect the following times and change of time:
Wednesday, April 6 packing @ 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 11 set up @ 4:30
Thursday, May 12 packing @ 4:30 pm
All set up and packing is done at Culver Bible Church, 718 S. Main Street in Culver.
THANK YOU!!
Dianne, Stephanie and Tracy
Blessings in a Backpack Coordinators
Culver Boys and Girls Club
Director- Mrs. Jessye Gilley
Asst. Director- Mrs. Criston Zehner
Phone Number- 574-250-0103
Fee- $30.00 Per Year (After School) / Field Trips Extra / Daily Rate
Open- 3:00-7:00 after school / Summer (Other days as determined by Director)
CES Community Volunteer Program
CES Loves it's Volunteers!!!!
What's New in Education...
Weekly Message from Superintendent Ritz March 28, 2016
As Superintendent I am committed to ensuring that all stakeholder groups, administrators, teachers, parents and community members receive frequent and relevant communication directly from me to you. As such, I would like to share my most recent videos for parents and educators of the 2015-16 school year.
Today's messages provide families and educators with resources and information on the 2016 ISTEP+ assessment as well as literacy resources for students to use at school and at home.
A link to the educator video can be found here and the family video can be found here : Please feel free to share these videos within your communities.
Also this week, I would like to share a FAQ on the topic of piloting ISTEP+ test items, and the future of assessment in Indiana given the Governor's signature of HEA1395 ending ISTEP in its current form, yet providing for a framework of a continued assessment system aligned to the assessment expectations of the USED Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
Please share this FAQ with your school community.
Have a Great week!
Sincerely,
Glenda Ritz, NBCT
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Pence signs bill eliminating unpopular ISTEP
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The deeply unpopular ISTEP student exam will be repealed by July 2017 under a bill Gov. Mike Pence signed into law Tuesday.
Appearing at an assembly at Eagle Elementary School in Zionsville, the Republican governor jokingly told students that the good news is the ISTEP will go away but the bad news is they will still have to take tests.
"We're going to have accountability in our testing, but we're going to find a better way," Pence said before signing the bill at a table flanked by students. "We're going to look to our teachers and we're going to look to our administrators ... and we're going to ask how can we do a better job?"
After years of tinkering with the state's education policy, including withdrawing from the national Common Core standards, the decisions by the GOP-majority Legislature now pose a political liability, because parents and educators have become increasingly weary of high-stakes testing. And ISTEP scores plummeted about 20 percent in 2015 when compared to the previous year due to a hastily rolled out test that was based on Indiana-specific standards for math and science instead of the Common Core.
While Democratic State Schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz has long called for student testing to be rethought, the idea to scrap the ISTEP did not gain currency until recent months with Republicans, who have enacted school accountability measures that use student performance on the standardized test to determine school grades and help award teacher merit pay.
The bill signed by Pence was sponsored by GOP House Education committee Chairman Bob Behning and will create a 23-member panel of educators and experts who will study and make recommendations about what should replace ISTEP.
The committee is tasked with finding ways to reduce the amount of time students spend taking standardized tests, as well as ways to decrease the cost of administering tests. But they are also being asked to evaluate ways to increase the fairness of testing to students, teachers and schools. Another consideration for the panel is figuring out the impact the newly approved federal Every Student Succeeds Act will have on education in Indiana. The law replaces the No Child Left Behind law that was put in place more than a decade ago by former President George W. Bush.
Democrats, however, are unhappy with the measure, because minority Democrats cannot appoint people to the board. As is, Pence, Ritz and GOP leaders in the Senate and House are able to appoint members, but legislative Democrats are not. Additionally, Democrats complain that that Ritz, the state schools chief, will not chair the committee.
"Superintendent Ritz has said for years that the state needed to get rid of the ISTEP exam," state Democratic Party Chairman John Zody said in a statement. "But unfortunately, her advice fell on deaf ears. That is, until another public relations crisis fell on the governor's lap. While it is encouraging that Mike Pence finally listened to Ritz, he still refuses to respect her position as our State's Superintendent of Public Instruction."
Much of the testing backlash came after lawmakers abruptly withdrew from national Common Core math and English standards. Conservative critics say the national math and English benchmarks that describe what students should know after completing each grade amount to a federal takeover of education. The new Indiana-specific standards — the third time in a decade that the standards were changed — were touted as more difficult. The 2015 ISTEP exam also was plagued by testing glitches.
New Growth Model Chart
The Indiana State Board of Education acted on two issues; the Accountability Growth Chart and the future of the Indiana diploma.
As co-chair of the Accountability Panel, I was pleased that the State Board of Education supported the Accountability Panel recommended model that incorporates an individual student Growth Model element, specifically the Growth Model Chart.
The State Board approved a plan to award schools points based on their students' improvement on Indiana's ISTEP test. The new accountability formula, using the Growth Model Chart will be used to calculate school A-F accountability grades beginning this year. At this time we are seeking your input on the selected Growth Model Chart, as final action will be taken at the April 15th State Board of Education meeting. You can see the Growth Model Chart and submit comments on the chart here. http://www.doe.in.gov/accountability/growth
Further, within the Growth Model Chart, there is an element called Prior Year Status. The prior year status (pass rate) is in part how student growth points will be awarded within the accountability model. The prior year status chart is attached here for your review and sharing. This prior year status chart is a valuable visual to share with teachers and parents as it indicates the pass rate ranges that will correlate to expected growth year to year, accelerated growth or negative movement.
Please note that the target ranges in the table do not represent scale score points. These target ranges represent percentiles.
Resources on the growth table and the new student-centered accountability may be found on the Department's website here, as well as on Learning Connection under Files and Bookmarks > Student-Centered Accountability System > Growth. Please contact schoolaccountability@doe.in.gov if you have any questions regarding the growth to proficiency table.
Culver Elementary School
Email: eproskey@culver.k12.in.us
Website: es.culver.k12.in.us
Location: 401 School Street, Culver, IN 46511
Phone: 574-842-3389
Facebook: www.facebook.com/culver.elementary.school/