Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School

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From the Principal

 

Dear Parents/Guardians:

This month, I'd like to share with you some of the work we are doing at our school to boost academic achievement:

Mathematics – FlashMasters are being used in all math classes on a daily basis to provide students practice with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills.

SuccessMaker Mathematics Classes – Students are now enrolled in SuccessMaker classes in which they will receive individualized, direct instruction as well as use the computer-based program that is diagnostic and prescriptive.

Literacy – An "Extreme Reading Class" was provided during first semester to tailor reading instruction to student needs and to provide Fast ForWord, a computerized language acquisition program.

MAPs (Measuring Academic Progress) our districtwide electronic assessment system. We are using MAPs three times each year to guide instructional adjustments.

Curriculum Mapping – our teachers are leading the way toward the first goal in the JSD Strategic Plan "Align grade level core standards in math and literacy with world-class goals in mind." by "mapping" their units/plans to see when/how standards are taught.

Five Important Things for Our Writers – we have a school-wide effort to help ours students do the following in all classes:
1) Use capital letters in proper nouns and at the beginning of sentences; 2) Write in complete sentences; 3) Use end punctuation (!, ?, ); 4) Use apostrophes in contractions to show where letters are missing; 5) When answering a question, restate the question as a complete sentence.

AVB (Aggressors, Victims, & Bystanders) – Our Exploratory Team has just finished a week of the AVB curriculum for our 7th and 8th grade students. The AVB is our Bully Prevention Program. There is a direct correlation between student achievement and climate. This will also be the first year students will have the chance to see the School Climate Survey results which have improved over the last three years.

Insisting on Success – Required study halls for students who earned a "D" or "F" in a language arts or math class. Research shows that students who fail these classes in middle school are more likely to drop out.

Framework of Poverty – as a staff we are meeting to discuss Ruby Payne's work "Framework of Poverty" in order to better understand students and adults from poverty (the extent to which an individual does without resources).

Sincerely,

Barb Mecum
Principal