{"id":1239,"date":"2016-12-05T13:12:35","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T18:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=1239"},"modified":"2016-12-05T13:12:35","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T18:12:35","slug":"priority-status-doesnt-mean-shut-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=1239","title":{"rendered":"Priority status doesn’t mean shut down"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Julia Paine<\/strong>
\nShades of Gray
\nClarenceville HS
\n1st Place
\nDivision 4, News Writing
\nNews Analysis<\/p>\n

By now everyone knows that CHS is a Priority School, but not everyone knows what, if anything, is being done to rectify that status. It is important to know that the Priority School Status doesn\u2019t translate into the school being a terrible place. Mr. Troy Nelson, principal, explained, \u201cWe\u2019re not saying that it\u2019s a bad school. What we\u2019re saying is that now some-body from the outside has said that there are some things you can change and because of how we identified things, we are saying you have to change.\u201d The Michigan Department of Education won\u2019t just let the school sit idly by and hope it gets better. \u201cWe have to put our feet on the gas, and make sure it gets done the right way, so that we really are impacting kids,\u201d continued Nelson.<\/p>\n

An in-depth Redesign Plan detailing the agenda for the next four years is required. Nelson and his \u201cTransformational Team\u201d\u2014which consists of teachers from each core class and other Clarenceville District staff\u2014 submitted the first draft of the plan to the MDE on Jan. 20, 2015. After extensive analysis and research, the group determined the three \u201cBig Ideas\u201d or focus areas of the plan to be culture, literacy, and mathematics.<\/p>\n

Big ideas for big improvement
\nBuilding culture means that the school needs to become a positive learning environment with academic consistency and higher performance expectations. Although academics are important, Sarah Meili, \u201816 believes that behavior needs to be addressed just the same to improve the classroom. \u201cIt\u2019s a calmer environment [in classrooms with no behavioral is-sues] where my mind is more open to learning. When there is constant interruption, I just get annoyed and stop focusing on my class work,\u201d Meili said.<\/p>\n

However, Nelson\u2019s focus seems to be more heavily based on academic over behavioral consistency at this point. \u201cBut even more so is consistent instruction, the consistent bell to bell work, the consistent expectation that all students will achieve at a high level,\u201d said Nelson. As a result, LEAD class will be further used to discuss students more personally\u2014 their achievement levels and shortcomings. Furthermore, this year \u2014the planning year\u2014 is the time for developing and researching top-ics for future implementation such as college and career readiness.<\/p>\n

A current issue is the discomfort that students face when it comes to certain teachers\u2019 approachability. \u201cI think that the staff at Clarenceville is great, but some teachers I have trouble approaching to ask questions,\u201d said Amanda Katchorek, \u201816. These issues that students face are exactly why the culture of the school is one of the \u201cBig Ideas\u201d that will have to be addressed.<\/p>\n

Teachers creating this safe and open environment has to be of utmost importance as the school moves forward. \u201cThere has to be a bit of forgiveness that a student might not know that answer, and you\u2019re going to say that\u2019s okay. You\u2019re going to help them get there\u2026The Priority Plan is looking at our instructional practices. Part of that is that idea of being open for students, so they will ask those questions, so students feel safe to learn and not intimidated,\u201d said Nelson.<\/p>\n

Because of teachers\u2019 role in building culture, they\u2019re understandably a huge part of the plan. Mr. Brady Gustafson, math teacher and Transformational Team member, identified components of exemplary teaching as \u201cbeing prepared, communication with your students, timely feedback, and understanding your content material, and then using the most modern, best practices to convey your information to the students.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key throughout the plan is communication, which puts the spotlight on the timely input-ting of grades by teachers. Seth Krazel, \u201817 said, \u201cMost of the time they put the grades in, in a week or two, but sometimes they take up to a month.\u201d Currently, Nelson and Mr. Alan Kantor, assistant principal, monitor grades on a somewhat weekly basis. However, with the plan\u2019s stress on consistency, there has been discussion about picking a day and time, which parents and students would be aware of, when grades are due every week. Also, new reward systems are being established for teachers such as \u201cTeacher of the Month\u201d to en-courage better practices. As the school is under the microscope, teachers will be evaluated and watched carefully through a new process, and those determined ineffective for three annual evaluations will be let go.<\/p>\n

Literacy is another of the \u201cBig Ideas\u201d that needs to be worked on as shown from test scores. Strengthening vocabulary is essential for higher achievement and is currently being practiced though Word Walls. Testing showed students also struggle in reading content-specific text and in data literacy. Although this year is just a planning year, the English Department is getting ahead of the curve. \u201cWe\u2019ve already started to incorporate some new strategies that are outlined in our plan. We outlined all the different techniques we\u2019re going to try, and we started immediately\u2014we\u2019re not wait-ing until year two,\u201d said Mr. Mike Korczyk, English teacher and Transformational Team member. Support programs for underperform-ing students will be more prevalent in the up-coming years as well.<\/p>\n

Math is the final focus of the Redesign Plan. A gap was found between what is taught and what the expectations of the Common Core are. \u201cAligning the practices of the Common Core while making sure all teachers follow Common Core will improve test scores,\u201d said Gustafson. The learning targets posted in math classrooms are aimed to help teachers focus and align their teaching more effectively.<\/p>\n

Schedule change up
\nThe MDE requires a change in the school\u2019s schedule to allow for increased time in the core classes. Teachers and students seem to see things differently when it comes to the schedule alteration coming next year. There will be six hour days, and students will have to take math, science, English, and social studies all three trimesters as opposed to two. \u201cI do not want that schedule next year because we just got out of middle school, and I don\u2019t think we should go back to that,\u201d said Dante Marzolo, \u201817. An upside for students is that the length of the school day will not be ex-tended; instead class periods will be reduced to about 60 minutes.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, teachers think it\u2019s a great plan. According to Gustafson, \u201cIt\u2019s going to allow us to do more hands-on activities, to do more learning based on discovery, to implement the practices effectively of the Common Core, and it gives us more time to cover more topics and cover those topics deeper than we were previously\u2026The shorter time they\u2019re in class will help them [the students], and it\u2019ll keep the same amount of electives, but give them more time to focus on their core work which should improve their test scores.\u201d<\/p>\n

Testing bombardment
\nStudents are all too familiar with the excessive testing taking place and the fact that
\nscores must improve. If it\u2019s not finals, it\u2019s NWEA, and then ACTs come around along with the state testing. Although it may seem dizzying, the question of how it influences the Priority School Status is key. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve been told from the MDE, is that no matter what the tests are\u2026that those are the measures for Priority [School] Status… We are also be-ing told that they will be consistent in how they measure. Now, we\u2019re being told that, is that accurate or not? That\u2019s up for argumentation,\u201d said Nelson.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s inaccuracy
\nAccuracy, or the lack thereof, has been huge. Gustafson explained, \u201cThe formula that was used to judge our school takes into account three things: achievement, the gap in student learning, and your improvement score. The achievement score is based on test scores that every student takes. The assessment score for improvement is based on your test scores compared to the group of test scores from four years ago. This is inaccurate because you\u2019re testing two completely different groups of students, so it doesn\u2019t show improvement. Our students might\u2019ve improved even though they have lower test scores compared to a completely different set of students. And then the last one is the Bottom 30 Top 30 comparison. This gives a score based on how far your lowest students are compared to your highest achieving students, which is also inaccurate because if all your students are low, you get a high score in that category even though they may not have ever passed a single test or met a single state requirement.\u201d Gustafson predicts that after this year, the school\u2019s scores will be
\nhigher. In fact, the MDE\u2019s results fluctuate a lot. Just three short years ago, the school received money from Michigan as a reward for success. Data actually suggests that Clarenceville hasn\u2019t changed all that drastically, but the measuring system used is flawed. In recognition of this, it seems that this year the MDE will take the junior\u2019s test scores and compare them to their eighth grade scores. This way the group of people being measured is a constant variable which should show the growth the state is seeking.<\/p>\n

Time for students to step up
\nAs CHS moves into the future with this plan, students must remember to play their role. What needs to be done for students on a daily basis parallels what the school is now do-ing\u2014learning from mistakes and improving. Students are just as crucial in this process to clean the school\u2019s reputation as the staff. Stu-dents need to take testing and any educational surveys seriously because it all lends itself to data analysis and information gathering used to help the school.<\/p>\n

Feeling hopeful for the future
\nOptimism is the general consensus for the future. \u201cI see us, no matter what the test is or how they\u2019re measuring, as a very different school. I see us out of the Priority [School] Status. I see us as a school where everyone knows that learning is the essential piece of why we do what we do, and why students come here every day,\u201d said Nelson. Korczyk and Gustafson had similar sentiments. With the Redesign
\nPlan firmly in place for the next four years, the school\u2019s future looks bright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Julia Paine Shades of Gray Clarenceville HS 1st Place Division 4, News Writing News Analysis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53,4],"tags":[135,23],"class_list":["post-1239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-newsanalysis","category-nw","tag-2015-16","tag-division4","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Riley Anson","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=4"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-jZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}