Woodlawn Today!!

Let's get this one out of the way so that we can all move on.  One of my flaws is that I am a White Sox fan and a Green Bay Packer fan.  Needless to say, it has been a really bad week.  Enough said.

Look up!  ^^^^^^  Click on the link above to visit the PTO Newsletter.

Mr. Murphy and I are very proud to have 115 followers to our blog.  Just to give you an idea, Twin Groves has 27 followers and the elementary schools are in the teens.  It is obvious to us that you approve of the blog and want to keep up with what is happening here at Woodlawn.

ISAT and MAP information will be going home with your student on October 4th.  Please make sure that your student hand delivers this information to you.  We will be sending out a blog reminder next week so that you can ask your student for that information.  Directions on how to interpret the data will accompany the results.

                        STANDARDS-BASED REPORTING "Question of the Week" 

Will my student still receive a course letter grade when the shift is made to the standards-based report card?

We intend to report student learning with both an overall course grade as well as specific indicators of target mastery. In last week's message, I reviewed the 4 point scale that will be used to report on student work by specific learning target. Within each course, between 6-12 standards are taught per trimester. For each target, you as parents will get feedback as to student mastery on this 4 point scale. This will give you and your child specific information as to skills that are areas of strength and the specific skills with which your student struggles. These data points will not be averaged; the most current assignments/tasks will be considered with more importance, as they reflect a student's growth and progress toward a standard. 

Then, for each course, the individual standard scores will be averaged together to generate a letter grade on the traditional "A"-"F" scale. As parents, you will get this overall course grade, which will resemble our current letter grade system.

Combined, you will know far more about your child's learning that our current reporting system allows. We are excited to do this work, and look forward to partnering with you as we initiate a field test during Trimester 2!

To review, the field test will take place in the following content areas starting in Trimester 2:

6th-8th Grade Language Arts

6th-8th Family and Consumer Science (FACS)

6th-8th Health

6th Grade Band

6th Grade Orchestra

7th Grade Spanish

We will continue to provide opportunities to learn more about standards-based reporting via blog updates as well as through more formal vehicles (presentations, surveys, etc.).

The first opportunity to formally learn more will be our Standards-Based Reporting Field Test Overview presentation, scheduled for Thursday, October 18 at 7:00 pm at Twin Groves. Please plan to attend to learn more!

The PowerSchool for Parents app is available for download from the App Store and compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This free app allows a parent to view his or her child's progress in a single feed to check grades, assignments, etc. For more info on this free mobile app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users, click POWERSCHOOL FOR PARENTS APP. (Note that this mobile app is notdesigned for use with android phones.)

Special thanks to our PTO for bringing in the SkySquad assembly today.  They brought a positive message of anti-bullying and thrilled our students with a high flying arial acrobatics/basketball show.  Here are a couple of pictures we want to share with you:

As a school, we are lucky to have fireman Tony as a resource for our students.  This week, fireman Tony visiting our Options classes talking about fire safety, and reminding students to change the batteries when we turn the clock back this fall.  Here is a picture of our guy fireman Tony!