by: Sister Dominic
February 2019
Dear Families of SVDP Parish and School,
In an effort to share a current state of affairs, this communication, and those that follow in the coming weeks, are intended to provide a high level overview of St. Vincent de Paul School on a variety of topics of interest. The information may be a review for you or an update on items you have read about in the Friday Forecast over the past year.
STAR Assessments
We are in our first year of transition from the nationally normed Iowa Test of Basic Skills to the nationally normed STAR Renaissance Assessments. STAR Assessments have the benefit of taking less academic time away from the classroom than the Iowa Assessment, of providing immediate feedback because it is computer-based, and providing deeper analysis of scoring. This helps our teachers to respond immediately to the needs in the classroom. The Archdiocesan-wide plan is to assess in the first couple weeks of school to get a benchmark score; to assess in January to get a mid year score to enable teachers to respond to results; and to assess in May to show the year’s growth. The September assessment is reviewed with parents at the October conferences. The mid-year assessments are used internally to inform instruction, and the final assessment of the year is shared with parents.
Summary highlights of the January STAR:
- For both 7th and 8th grades, the average math score maxed out the test
- The grade level average of sixth grade math scores is 1.5 years of growth in just four months
- Grades 2-8 showed expected or above average growth for math, some as much as 3 ½ times the expected growth
- Grades 2-8 showed expected or above average growth for reading, with the exception of two grade levels whose average class growth was less than four months. In these two grades, however, the grade level average for reading is already one to two years above the grade level.
Conclusions we draw from this mid year data:
- The K-8 math program is working. Our AVERAGE score of all 7th graders and of all 8th graders maxed out the test. Our average score was above what this test measures. We love this success and attribute it to the entire K-8 program of mastering basic skills at early levels and of challenging students in their thinking mathematically in all grade levels. We currently use Singapore Math in K-5 and provide training for teachers since we know it is a program very different from what most of us used in elementary school.
- Just like physical growth spurts, we can see that cognitive growth happens in uneven patterns of “slow” and “fast”. By way of analogy, some of our middle school boys grew about four inches over the Christmas break. If they continued to grow at a rate of four inches every two weeks, we would not look at this as successful development, but as unnatural. Like physical growth, cognitive growth is a natural process under the diligent care of parent and teacher partnership.
- We noticed some classes with lower growth than we would have expected. As noted above, these grade levels are already, on average, performing one or two years above grade level, which can impact the measured growth during such a short period of time (four months since the last STAR Assessment). We also noted that reading tests were taken immediately upon return from Christmas break, which is not an optimal time for cognitive assessment.
The teachers will be using the more detailed class/individual data to inform instruction for the final four months of school.
Academics
Underlying the strong assessment outcomes is a solid academic foundation. Following are summary curriculum highlights:
Preschool and the Addition of Montessori
In 2017 we invested in a full day preschool program at the request of our parent community. As we began making plans for the second classroom, God surprised us with His plan by providing for a Montessori classroom. With this addition, now we are able to offer a mix of part time, full time, half time, traditional, and Montessori. We love both of our preschools and are very blessed to have space to accommodate two classrooms and three total classes (traditional 3’s, traditional 4’s, and the Montessori mixed-age). We are committed to growing each of these programs as they are the main feeder into our K-8 classrooms. While Montessori has its particular method of instruction, the traditional preschool provides a structured place for socialization, developing fine motor skills, gross motor skills, play, and thematic learning, all in a deeply Christ-centered environment.
Early Childhood Learning: K-3
In grades K-3, students are introduced to and master the basic elements of the English language, from phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, decoding, reading, and gaining comprehension through a variety of reading strategies. We have made heavy investments in curriculum, professional development, and in staffing to ensure that students have mastery of the basic elements of language before leaving our third grade classrooms. Research shows that future academic success depends upon this early mastery.
In the area of literacy, this year we invested in the Open Court curriculum for Grades K-3. An effective curriculum is vertically aligned, ensuring strong foundation of skills at each of the grade levels. In these early years, we maintain focus on mastery of basic skills in both literacy and in math, protecting the classroom time for these priorities rather than an amalgam of popular educational initiatives.
Following are areas of professional development that teachers in the K-5 grade levels have been implementing and mastering over the past several years:
- Discipleship groups – book study/fellowship/prayer on topics relevant to the spiritual formation of Catholic school teachers
- Open Court Curriculum (professional development provided by Open Court 2018-present)
- Singapore Math Differentiation – yearlong study (Grades 1-5)
- Differentiated Instruction Pedagogy (provided by Notre Dame 2014-2018)
- RTI / Response to Intervention for data-driven instruction (provided by Notre Dame 2014-2018)
- ECAW / Every Child A Writer (provided by ECAW 2014-2018)
- The Gurian Model (brain-based teaching; gender based pedagogies 2018-present)
- Outdoor Lab Curriculum (SlowFoodsDenver USA & internal development of curriculum 2017 – present)
The Middle School
The middle school, perhaps, is the most undersold aspect of our school. While it is socially one of the more difficult times in life, it is also a time for new depth in learning and gaining increasing independence. Students are navigating greater demands on executive function, higher levels of personal organization, mastering significantly greater breadth and depth of content, and developing critical research skills. As in all classrooms, the teachers are the number one factor influencing student academic success. The expertise in our middle school staff is outstanding. Teachers are teaching in their areas of professional expertise and have worked in an ongoing way towards master’s degrees in respective content areas, which constitutes their primary professional development. Our middle school faculty have, or are pursuing, master’s degrees in disciplines of education (math, psychology, history), curriculum and instruction, science equivalent in biology and chemistry, and history. In fact, six of our seven middle school teachers are in this process or have completed their higher level degrees. Research shows that teacher depth of content knowledge is among the top factors impacting deep learning in a content area, and so at SVDP we strive to financially support this individualized professional development for our middle school teachers, through our Teacher Endowment Fund.
Additional, schoolwide areas of professional development initiatives at the middle school level include:
- Discipleship groups – book study/fellowship/prayer on topics relevant to the spiritual formation of Catholic school teachers
- Google Classroom (Google Education Consulting 2019 and ongoing)
- The Gurian Model (brain-based teaching; gender based pedagogies 2018-present)
Look next time for Sr Dominic’s SVDP School Financial Information and Updates
