Update from State Superintendent....Parent Message Included

Alert From Indiana Dept. of Education View this email as a webpage Add xxx@doe.in.gov to your address book | Contact Us Superintendent Ritz's Winter video messages  January 20, 2016 I hope that your school year has been going well so far. I know that across Indiana, teachers and administrators like you are busy making sure our children are best prepared for their next challenges. Since we are over half way through the school year, I am excited to share three important messages with you to give you an update of where we are as a state. I hope that you share these videos with your fellow educators, your student's families and other staff that are making it happen in your schools. First, I want to share a video I made for the parents of students in the State of Indiana. You will see me address my concerns about the one-size-fits-all 2015 ISTEP+ and why we need to move away from it. I also outline my legislative agenda, which includes holding schools harmless, reevaluating our assessment system and implementing strategies from my Blue Ribbon Commission on the Recruitment and Retention of Excellent Educators to address Indiana's shortage of teachers. I encourage you to share this video with the parents of your students and your school community.  View the Parent Message for Winter 2016 Second, I am sharing with you a video directed towards you: the teachers in our classrooms. While this video is similar to the video I have made for parents, I give you a little more detail on why it is important for us to hold our schools harmless this year. I believe in strong accountability, but I also believe in accountability that is fair.  View the Teacher Message for Winter 2016 Finally, I invite you to celebrate Indiana's bicentennial with other educators from across the state by taking the Bicentennial Book Challenge. This year, Hoosier Family of Readers is giving students and schools in Indiana access to myOn's digital library from now through December 2016. Help us reach our goal of reading 200,000 books by the end of the year by reading 200 books with your class this year.  View the Bicentennial Book Challeng  Thank you for the work that you do each day to educate the students of Indiana. I hope that you view and share these videos with your fellow educators, parents and school community. Sincerely,  Glenda Ritz, Superintendent of Public Instruction

Update from the DOE

View this email as a webpage Add xxx@doe.in.gov to your address book | Contact Us Important Updates Regarding ISTEP+ and Accountability January 7, 2016 I'm sending you a special DOE Dialogue this week to inform you of two updates regarding ISTEP+ and accountability. This week, two very important bills were discussed at the Indiana Statehouse this week regarding holding teachers and schools harmless for 2014-15 ISTEP+ results. I testified in support of both bills, House Bill 1003 and Senate Bill 200.   As currently drafted, both bills would give much needed flexibility to educators and schools that saw ISTEP+ scores drop as a result of the transition to more rigorous standards and the implementation of a new statewide assessment.  This approach will also allow us to recognize the work of educators and schools that saw an increase in ISTEP+ scores or A-F accountability grades. It is important to note that these proposals do not pause accountability for schools.  Upon the placement of grades by the State Board of Education, positive and negative impacts that utilize an A-F accountability grade will be applied. House Bill 1003 and Senate Bill 200 passed out of committee this week.  We anticipate that the bills will quickly move through the legislative process before being signed into law by the Governor later this month.  Thank you for your voice in making both bills a reality.  The Department is developing guidance on both of these bills for if, and when, they become law. Due to an individualized approach to ensuring that educator evaluations are not negatively impacted by the 2014-15 ISTEP results, you may need both IGM and final A-F grades to finalize 2014-15 educator evaluations.  The Department is planning to release IGM data to schools on January 15th.  A-F grades will be finalized after a vote of the State Board of Education. As we move forward, I will continue to keep you informed of important updates regarding the legislative session and the ISTEP+/Accountability timelines. Have a great week! Glenda Ritz, NBCT Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction

This email was sent to: matternm@apaches.k12.in.us This email was sent by: Indiana Department of Education Statehouse, Room 228, 200 West Washington Street Indianapolis, Indiana, 46204, United States We respect your right to privacy - view our policy.

Welcome Back Students and Familles

As 2nd semester gets going, WMS would like to welcome our students back for another great semester.  We look forward to working with the kids and families to help our students find educational and social growth, as well as, have a lot of fun along the way.

Some items coming this semester in relation to student growth assessment.

NWEA Assessment - Winter Test - January 25th - February 5th

ISTEP Assessment - Applied Skills - March 1st - March 10th

ISTEP Assessment - Multiple Choice - April 18th - May 6th

NWEA Assessment - Spring Test - May 4th - May 16th

Each time a student takes an NWEA assessment, reports will be sent home with the next midterm or grade card.  These are excellent reports that will allow you to "visualize" your student's growth and see the areas of strength and weakness.

ISTEP+ reports are a bit more tricky to predict.  To date, we still do not have school level reports indicating how your student did in relation to standards from the test given last Spring (14-15).  We have overall scores but no standard or skill specific data to share or use to further your students development in terms of ISTEP.  (We are using NWEA to fill the data void left by the state's difficulties in getting us specifics on student areas of strength and weakness until those scores are made available to us.)  There is no specific release date for these final reports at this point from the 14-15 testing cycle.

The Indiana Department of Education has indicated the upcoming test (beginning this March of 2016) results should be available to parents and schools by early summer.

As always if you have any questions in regard to your student in relation to any school related activity or matter, please contact us.  We will be happy to help in any way possible.

Here is to a great 2nd semester, WMS is proud of our students and staff.

Harvey Hinklemeyer's Teacher of the Month

As our students and staff ease back into the swing of the school routine, please take a few minutes this week to recognize a Wabash City Schools' staff member by nominating them for the December Apache Way Staff Member of the Month. Nominations can be found on the Wabash City Schools website under the Harvey Hinklemeyers' Apache Way Staff Member of the Month link.

The November winners are below:

O.J. Neighbours Elementary: Mrs. Heather Burton

"I am nominating Heather Burton as Staff Member of the Month because she is 110% dedicated to her job and the students in our building! Heather does an AMAZING job with family reading night and puts in countless extra hours to make it such a huge success! Our building is blessed to have Heather as our librarian!"

Wabash Middle School: Mrs. Amy LePage

"...Amy is one of the most caring individuals I have encountered....I am so proud of Wabash Middle School and the great staff here. Keep up the good work."

Wabash High School: Mrs. Erin Sapusek

This teacher truly gives her all into teaching her students. She works endlessly to make sure that everything she does is absolutely, impeccably well done. She takes her time teaching people things when they do not understand, and she constantly gives her all. She cares about all of her students, and is a great organizer of event and people planning. She is genuinely a kind human being with one of the biggest hearts I've come across. She deserves any praise you'd have to offer. She is understanding, funny, and detail oriented. She makes good days even better and bad days easier to bare. She also has great taste in music..as if that doesn't say enough about her already. She always has something nice to say, and if she doesn't -- she says nothing. She is professional but easy going at the same time, exactly what a teacher should be. She expects the most, but does not shun you for all eternity if you have a late assignment or don't understand a topic in class. I would give Sap an "A+" on attitude."

Each winning staff member receives a Harvey Hinklemeyer's gift certificate.  Thank you to Harvey Hinklemeyers for supporting our educators and our students in Wabash.

(shared from Mr. Callhan's blog)

Parent Night and Teen Night

Please plan on joining us for a night of learning and understanding.

More 5/6th Volleyball results

Date:  10-5-15 

Sport:  Wabash 5/6th grade volleyball 

Opponent:  Columbia MS 

Coach:  Stacie Parrett 

Wabash 5/6th grade volleyball hosted Columbia Middle School Monday evening.  6th grade won 25-17, 25-10. Wabash 6th grade is now 6 - 1.  

Wabash 5th grade won 25-23, 25-13 Wabash 5th grade is now 6 - 1. 

6th grade stats:

Kendra Wiles - 10 pts,  6 Aces,  12 digs, 2 kills

Kasey Long - 9 pts, 4 digs, 1 kill

Patience Collins-McPherson - 7 pts,  2 Aces, 8 digs

Ellen McKenzie - 4 pts, 3 Aces, 1 dig

Brooklyn Westendorf - 2 pts, 8 digs, 1 kill

Kaitlynn McKernan - 1 pt

Emma Cain - 3 digs

Allie Coon - 3 digs

Kiersten O'Neill - 2 digs

Sierra Pelphry - 1 dig 

5th grade stats:

Ashlynn Cruz - 12 pts, 7 Aces, 18 digs

Libby Mattern - 8 pts,  6 Aces,  11 digs, 1 kill

Emma Tracy - 7 pts, 5 Aces, 10 digs, 2 kills

Tatum Vigar - 4 pts, 2 Aces 3 digs

Jade stumbo - 3 digs

Wabash 5/6th grade volleyball will play again Wednesday night at Oakhill @ 6:00.

5/6 Volleyball Results

Sport:  Wabash 5/6th grade volleyball 

Opponent:  Tipp Valley 

Coach:  Stacie Parrett 

Wabash 5/6th grade volleyball hosted Tipp Valley Thursday evening.  6th grade lost 23-25, 20-25. 

Wabash 6th grade is now 5 - 1. 

Wabash 5th grade won 25-15, 23-25, 15-5 Wabash 5th grade is now 5 - 1. 

6th grade stats:

Kendra Wiles - 9 pts,  7 Aces,  17 digs, 3 kills

Kiersten O'Neill - 6 pts, 4 Aces, 3 digs

Brooklynn Westendorf - 4 pts,  3 Aces,  10 digs

Patience Collins-McPherson - 2 pts,  9 digs

Ellen McKenzie - 1 Ace, 8 digs

Kasey Long - 3 digs

Emma Cain - 4 digs

Kaitlynn Mckernan - 1 dig

Allie Coon - 8 digs

5th grade stats:

Ashlynn Cruz - 18 pts, 16 Aces, 15 digs

Libby Mattern - 13 pts,  10 Aces,  10 digs

Hannah Layne - 2 pts,  1 Ace, 7 digs

Emma Tracy - 1 Ace, 10 digs

Sidney Stamper - 2 digs

Jade stumbo - 3 digs

Kiara Carmichael - 1 dig

Madison Inman - 1 dig