A handy little learning aid circa 1763On June 6th Dr. Suellen Reed, Superintendent of Public Instruction will announce the results of Public Law 221 (Indiana’s school accountability legislation) Category Placements for all School Corporations and Schools. Knox Elementary School has been named an exemplary school.
P.L. 221 places Indiana school corporations and schools into one of five categories based upon “performance” and “improvement” data from the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus (ISTEP+). The categories are:
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- Exemplary Progress (the best!)
- Commendable Progress
- Academic Progress
- Academic Watch
- Academic Probation.
Placements are based on the percentage of all students who pass English and math tests (averaged across subjects and grade levels) and the improvement in passing percentage of students over time.
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Knox Elementary teachers and administration deserve our heartfelt appreciation and thanks for the very hard work that went into attaining this designation. I am convinced that this is quite meaningful and accurate. This means that our elementary school students are reading and writing and ciphering better than any time in our recent history.
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I don’t suppose that Harold Welter, school board member will retract his comment, “more pay for less work”, regarding the last teacher contract. The contract negotiations aren’t going well. One wonders how many good teachers will want to stay in such an adversarial environment. I suppose the school board members will be quite happy to take some glory here. Let’s be clear about this. The School Board had little or nothing to do with this.
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But for the moment let us all be happy about Kindergarteners reading and 5th Graders not going backwards as they seem to do in so many schools. Bravo!
3 comments:
If you are writing about Knox, there is more to Knox than the schools . I cant stand Welter either, but go on to something, someone else. Please...............
OK there is a lot more to write about than the schools. So make a suggestion. What is it that you have on your mind?
Marian
Le plus de choses change, le plus ils restent le même.
(The more things change, the more they remain the same.)
Alphonse Karr
I lived in Knox over 20 years ago and as a reporter for the South Bend Tribune I covered far too many School Board Meetings, not just in Starke County but in surrounding counties.
Admittedly, since I no longer reside in the state of Indiana, I have not kept current on the machinations of any School Board I used to cover: Oregon Davis and their continual yearbook problems, some of which escalated into fisticuffs during a meeting with police being called; Knox and the acrimony between the Board President, the Superintendent and the Board, this one resulted in a lawsuit. Funny, Harold Welter was around then, too! I could go on, but there is no reason to dredge up the silt that has settled over the years.
Knox could very well be named Peyton Place (as could any number of towns in our country where the locals have nothing better to do than keep up with every one else’s business). Stop trying to guess whose bed the Chief of Police's boots are under (why not look it up the address on Binkley Dr at http://www.whitepages.com/10001/reverse_address and stop guessing?). So a police officer was fired for indiscriminate sexual activity? Seems he was just taking his cue from his leader.
It is far easier for me, as an outsider to smile, shake my head and go on. Thank you for taking me on a not so sentimental journey back in time, which unfortunately, is your present.
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