Download - 2014 ESU Fall Newsletter
I know that the last thing you want to hear is more information about test scores, but do you really understand how test scores can impact your teaching position? Let’s examine ACT scores and then see the impact from a neighboring state.
Nationwide, 57% of the 2014 graduating class took the ACT exam and scored an average composite score of 21. Remember, the components of the ACT are English, math, reading, science and an overall composite score. The highest possible score is 36. In Nebraska, 86% of last year’s graduating class took the
ACT with a composite score of 21.7. Your first impression might be that Nebraska is above average, so we can relax...or can we?
Let’s take a look at a neighboring state such as Colorado where 100% of the students are tested. The average composite score in Colorado was 20.6. Colorado’s educational system is different from Nebraska in that it does provide public financing to charter schools. One such school is Liberty Common School in Fort Collins. All of the juniors in this school took the ACT test during the 2013-2014 school year and scored an average composite score of 28.6. The school has a lottery system
for student entrance and currently has a waiting list for students wanting to enroll.
Liberty Common School was chartered by a group of parents and started in an old factory building. Since then they have gotten the funds to build a new high school. More charter schools exist and new schools are being organized in Colorado.
Will Nebraska follow this trend and allow charter schools? Don’t be convinced that this could not happen here.
P.S. Charter schools in Colorado do not have teacher tenure.
- Dennis Radford
In 2010, Amanda graduated with a degree in Psychology and a minor in
Health Science from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. In 2011, she
continued her post-baccalaureate education at Texas Tech University of
Health Science in Lubbock, Texas. Amanda completed clinical rotations in
both medical and educational arenas, and graduated with her Masters of Occupational Therapy in December of 2013. She is presently a member of
the American Occupational Therapy Association and the Nebraska Occupational
Therapy Association.
Amanda was born and raised in Overton, Nebraska. She is married to Wyatt
Barstow and they currently live near Wyatt’s hometown of Springview. Wyatt and Amanda have a two-year-old son, Wylie. When not working, Amanda
enjoys spending time with her family, reading, learning, traveling, and
wrestling with Wylie.
ESU #17 began providing school
occupational therapy services to
schools in February of 2014, when Amanda Barstow became a
full time staff member. During
the spring of 2014, Amanda got
her feet wet by serving eleven
students within the ESU #17
service area. She has been a great addition to the staff and
has given students an opportunity
to receive personal and one-on-
one therapy in their school and
home environments. This school year, she is serving over 30 children
in 4 of our area districts.
Occupational therapy is provided
as a related service within
special education to support a student’s independence within
his school environment. Occupational
therapy in an educational based
setting addresses each student's
physical, cognitive, sensory, and self-care performance. The goal
of therapy is to facilitate meaningful
activities within the child’s
school to assist him in reaching his/her full potential. This may
include adapting the environment,
supporting various accommodations
to ensure access in school activities
and programs, and teaching life
skills required for community integration.
While in the school setting,
occupational therapists spend
time observing students engaging in everyday activities. It is the
job of the therapist to reduce the
barriers that may be limiting
each student’s full participation
in his environment.
Occupational therapy in the
school environment could be
illustrated by working with
students so they can join in on
the playground, successfully participate in their classroom
activities, interact in the lunch
table, or even use the bathroom
successfully.
Occupational therapists are also
an integral part of the IEP team.
They complete assessments and
work with other teachers and
therapists to determine what is needed for each student to
receive an appropriate education.
During the IEP meeting, the
occupational therapist will
determine services, supports, any modifications, and any
accommodations that are needed
for a student to achieve his/her
goals.
If you have any questions about the occupational therapy services
provided by your ESU, please
feel free to call us by phone at
(402) 387-1420 or send us an
email at [email protected].
On August 4-5-6, 2014, over 100 educators from all five school districts met at Valentine High School for Write Tools training facilitated by Barb Hermanson and Gwen Karas from The Write Tools in Colorado. The training focused on strategies that can be implemented in all content areas in order to strengthen K-12 writing and learning. In all, 106 educators participated, including 100% participation from the Keya Paha County Schools and the Valentine Community Schools. Writing is currently a school improvement goal in four of the ESU #17 member schools.
- Jeff McQuistan
* Above photo: K-5 educators met on the VHS auditorium stage for the workshop.
Staff members articulated department goals at the Fall ESU Staff Meeting as a component of the department/program evaluation process required action from the 2013 AdvancED External Review. Department goals reflect specific areas of focus aimed at improving support for schools and/or areas impacting agency effectiveness. Progress toward these goals will be reported at the midyear and year-end staff meetings in February and May.
Department Goals for the 2014-2015 school year is as follows:
Core Services
1. Create an online video/digital resources library
2. Provide targeted data assistance to schools related to improving student achievement
Health Services
1. Meet the newly mandated competency requirements set forth by the state of Nebraska
2. Revise the health screening protocols of K-12 students to meet the new state mandates
Media
1. Increase awareness and usage of digital and distance learning opportunities available
Special Education
1. Ensure that all state SPED policy changes reach all special education staff within a week of receipt by administration
2. Assist districts and PRT in the development of Target Improvement Plans
Staff Development
1. Implement a curriculum articulation process that reflects current best practice and leverages technology
Technology
1. Create and/or find and organize online videos that apply to teaching with the Schoology LMS
2. Improve wireless access at Administration and Training Building
3. Create and/or find and organize online videos that apply to Google Apps for Education and Google classroom
1. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park your car at the far end of the street or parking lot.
2. Have “walking meetings” with colleagues at work.
3. Rearrange your home so you can stand upright or walk on a treadmill while watching TV or using the computer.
4. Set an alarm on your computer to go off every hour and prompt you to move around for a minute or 2.
5. Try walking as if you’re already late for the bus or an important meeting.
6. Have small weights in your office or around your home for doing arm exercises.
- Reprinted with permission from NIH
News in Health, December 2012 Issue, http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/
Dec2012/Feature1
In this article in Reader’s Digest, author Glennon Doyle Melton
describes what her son’s veteran fifth-grade teacher does every
Friday afternoon: she has students take out a piece of paper and
write the name of one student who has been an exceptional
classroom citizen that week and four classmates with whom they’d
like to sit the following week. Students pass in their papers
understanding that their buddy requests may or may not be
honored. After dismissal, the teacher spreads out students’ papers
and looks for patterns:
Who is not getting requested by anyone?
Who can’t think of anyone to request?
Who never gets noticed enough to be nominated for citizen of the
week?
Who had lots of friends the preceding week and none this week?
What she’s looking for is isolated children – those who are struggling
to connect with their peers and falling through the cracks of the
class’s social world, not being noticed, perhaps being bullied.
“As a teacher, parent, and lover of all children, I think this is the
most brilliant Love Ninja strategy I have ever encountered,” says
Melton. “It’s like taking an X-ray of a classroom to see beneath the
surface of things and into the hearts of students… those children
who need a little help, who need adults to step in and teach them
how to make friends, how to ask others to play, how to join a group,
or how to share their gifts… the truth comes out on those safe,
private little sheets of paper.”
Melton asked the teacher how long she had been using this system
and she said ever since Columbine. “This brilliant woman watched
Columbine knowing that all violence begins with disconnection,”
says Melton. “All outward violence begins with inner loneliness…
And so she decided to start fighting violence early and often in the
world within her reach… What a way to spend a life: looking for
patterns of love and loneliness. Stepping in, every single day, and
altering the trajectory of our world.”
Reprinted with permission from Marshall Memo 539, June 2, 2014. Article is a summary of: “One
Teacher’s Brilliant Strategy to Stop Bullying” by Glennon Doyle Melton in Reader’s Digest, June 2014, http://www.rd.com/advice/parenting/stop-bullying-strategy/
For the past two years the average NeSA Test proficiency was averaging above 70% in Reading, Math, and Science. Writing, however, has been trending lower. This year, with an added emphasis on writing, the
combined performances of grades 4, 8, and 11 averaged 76%, up from 61% one year ago and 59% two years ago. Ainsworth Community Schools implemented strategies from The Write Tools during the 2013-2014 school year (see page 3) while Rock County Public Schools identified targeted strategies for K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Ainsworth, Keya Paha County, Rock County, and Valentine have participated in the NNNC Writing/Scoring/Data Retreat sessions at the NECC the past two years. A full report of ESU #17 NeSA and MAP performance will be included in the ESU #17 Annual Report, which will be available in October on the ESU #17 website.
COPS, CAPS, and COPES testing
has started already this year at Valentine High School. Testing is
scheduled in October at Rock Co. High School. More testing will be scheduled during second semester
at Rock Co. and at Ainsworth High School. These tests show students a measure of their interests, abilities
and values. These results help students plan their transition goals.
The 11th annual NDE Transition
Conference will be held on October 13th and 14th in Kearney.
Valentine High School is planning
on taking some students to the Holy Cow! What Now? Life after Graduation Transition Conference at Northeast
Community College in November. They will be able to receive grant
money from the Western Region Transition Team.
WINAHEAD, a disability transition
to college presentation, will be presented to students at Valentine
High School and at the Educational Service Unit #17 Administration Building in Ainsworth.
These presentations will be held on Friday, January 30, 2015. We are
planning on starting at 9:00am in Valentine and at 1:00pm in Ainsworth.
David Brandt will be doing the presentation along with VR Nebraska. Email Patty Pier with
any questions at [email protected].