Come To The Celebration!!!!!!!
The Big Event is this Sunday. It will mark the closing of our Centennial year. On Sunday May 4th, there will be a special Centennial Mass. It will be celebrated by our Pastor Fr John Madigan, and Archbishop Sartain. The mass will start at 11:30. Immediately after mass longtime Principal Kris Brown will open the time capsule she buried twenty five years ago and Father Madigan will bury the new time capsule, which will be opened, by some of you, in 50 years. So mark your calendars to be there —— both now and in 50 years. I am afraid I will have to miss the 50 year event. Immediately following the short internment ceremony there will be a reception in the Lanigan Gym. The contents of the old time capsule will be on display. Food and beverages will be provided. There will be no real program. It is just a chance to get together and celebrate, rekindle old friendships and make some new ones. Bring friends, family and neighbors. Invite any alums you may know or perspective school families.
Changes For 2014-2015: Testing
As you are probably aware, Holy Rosary School, like most schools throughout the country, has been adopting Common Core curriculum standards. Our recent purchase of the new math program this year, and the planned purchase of our new Language Arts program for next year, are part of the process of “Common Core” assimilation into our curriculum. One challenge schools face as they adopt new curriculum is, in many cases that which is being taught, does not line up with the material they are being tested on in the national tests they are presently taking. The reason is because many of the tests are older and have not been created to be in line with new standards and expectations. The Schools Office of the Seattle Archdiocese has “encouraged” all of our schools to join a consortium which gives the same test at the same time. It will help in their oversight and understanding of the schools as a group and it will animate productive discussions between the teachers and administrators on programs and approaches. It also allows more recent testing data for eighth graders who are applying to high schools. Presently their national test scores only go as far as seventh grade. Joining this group, however, forces us into the specific testing dates that the entire group adopts.
The longer it takes for a school to join this consortium, the greater disadvantage there will be for the students because studies demonstrate the more often a child takes the same type of a test the better their results are. We, the staff at Holy Rosary, therefore, have decided to make this switch next year. There will be three basic changes.
- The new test will be given at the beginning of the year so teachers have the information up front and it will be of better use for planning purposes.
- We will drop the traditional ITBS test and purchase this new test which is the IOWA Form E. There is an expense of a few thousand extra dollars connected to this.
- The new testing dates will be October 15th thru October 30th.
- The conferences will officially be moved to November 24, 25, and 26. This is the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Thanksgiving Week. This is probably the biggest change for the school and for families.
The School Commission will be meeting this coming Thursday, May 8th, and I intend to just report this as the new reality. I am announcing it here and now in the event any of you might wish to voice concern or opposition. You can feel free to contact me, or Mary Jo or any of the Commission members. Unless they were to have a majority disapprove of this action, we will go ahead. But we would end up committing to it the following year. The reason I bring this up is that we were initially misinformed about the “test window” during which this test will be taken, and the new dates mean that we will have to move back our traditional conference dates to Thanksgiving week. This can impact travel plans. More and more Catholic Schools are, however, adopting Thanksgiving week as conference week for a multitude of different reasons. This being one of them.
There is no doubt in my mind that academically this change is in the best interest of the students. I would have included this in my original “White Paper”, but I was really not aware, when I wrote it, of either our testing material, the dates of the test, or that we were not members of the consortium. I am assimilating as much as I can as fast as I can, but some things do slip by.
Staffing
We are very sorry to have to say “good-bye” to second grade teacher Maria Morris at the end of this school year. She has decided to take some time off from teaching so she can be at home full-time with her young child. Karen Robel, who partner teaches second grade with her will go from part time to full time teacher. So there will be no new hiring connected with this change. We wish all the best to Maria and thank her for the talents, expertise, example, professionalism and care she invested in our children and the Holy Rosary community.