Northridge Middle School

Community Data Night

Tuesday May 27th, 2014

Please go to www.socrative.com

Access the internet (MCS Wi-Fi), Go to

the Rocket login page.

The username will be patron4

Password will be Winter4 (note the upper

case W)

Robby Goodman, Principal Purpose of tonight:

• 1) We want our greater community to have a complete trust and understanding of who we are as a school

• 2) Tonight’s presentation and feedback from survey are our way to insure this is happening

• 3) I will review tonight our school practices and procedures, as well as respond to feedback from our community survey

• 4) Continued feedback will help us continue to add to our successful school!

• 5) Presentation will be linked on our NMS Website

We are a middle school of roughly 1050

students in grades 6th-8th

Over 100 staff members

Mark Snyder: Assistant Principal • Athletics, Attendance

Rachel Vallance: Assistant Principal • Safety and Student Discipline

Students are clustered into three teams in

which they all share a group of 4 core

teachers (LA, Math, Social Studies,

Science)

School within a school

No Pods

High priority

Saber • Sam Miller (LA)

• Michael Clabaugh (Math)

• Jamison Smith (SS)

• Heidi Tankersly (SC) Raptor

• Kelly Rumfelt (LA)

• Sara Tackett (Math)

• Kris Adams (SS)

• Matt Hahn (SC) T-Rex

• Matthew Lind (LA)

• Lori Hochstetler/ Aimee Gingerich (Math)

• Amy Seegert (SS)

• Dave Stuckey (SC)

Atlantis • Jamie Halfast (LA)

• Leah Magnuson (Math)

• Terry Anderson (SS)

• Shannon Yoder (SC) Discovery

• Teri Vasquez (LA)

• Jeff Payne (Math)

• Tina Golebiewski (SS)

• Tim Magnuson (SC) Endeavor

• Rowena Miller (LA)

• Caleb Mast (Math)

• Julie Gibbs (SS)

• Anita Mounsithiraj (SC)

Red • Judith Mantyla (LA)

• Rob Nisen (Math)

• Shawn Baker (SS)

• Amy Hively (SC) White

• Kim Cammenga (LA)

• Jessica Cripe (Math)

• Tim Luken (SS)

• Erin Wagner (SC) Blue

• Joy Holmes (LA)

• Heather Baber (Math)

• Kelli Rasler (SS)

• Jen Balsbaugh (SC)

NMS has been an “A Rated” school 6

years in a row

Data calculation currently based on

ISTEP scores (student achievement and

growth)

NMS received 2 “Bonus Points” for

demonstrating high student growth in

both the top and bottom quartiles as

measured by ISTEP math assessments

6/4 Stars!!!

We are proud of our data and recognize

areas for continued growth

Also understand that data is but one

indicator of how we should measure

effectiveness as a school

The “Good Ole Days”

Hence, the community survey

Online (Survey Monkey) community survey with hard copies accessible

Open to ALL Middlebury community members Just over 200 respondents (N>30) Will quickly move through charts to other slides

(full presentation will be posted on the NMS website)

Advertised by: • NMS Facebook page • NMS Website • InMiddlebury Magazine

• School Messenger Phone Call • Report Cards

66% of responders attended at least one performance

NMS offers Instrumental Music (Band), Vocal Music (Choir) as classes and a Drama Club for theater.

Choir = 376 students (36% of our student body) Band = 218 students (21% of our student body) Drama club = 67 students (7% of our student

body) NMS students CAN participate in both Band and

Choir full time

66% of responders attended at east one event

Partial availability to 6th grade due to Jr. High schools in Big 11 Conference (underlined below)

Sports offered at NMS: • Football, Volleyball, Cross Country, Soccer

• Basketball, Wrestling, Swimming

• Track, Golf, Tennis

• Cheerleading

72% of responders attended at least one other event

Possible events include: • 6th Grade Reality Day • 7th Grade CSI • 8th Grade Civil War Day • Back to School Night • Night of Expressive Arts • Parent/ Teacher Conferences • 8th Grade “Graduation”/ Awards Ceremony • VIP Tea, National Junior Honor Society, Honor

Breakfast, Volunteer Appreciation, Math Night, etc…

Consider “Always” and “Most of the

Time” as positive markings on this survey

Personally, I would have a hard time

marking always in many situations on any

survey: always is so concrete to me

75% of responders believed this to be

true

$10 from aunt

70% of responders believed this to be

true

Different bed times

85% of responders believe this to be true

80% of responders believe this to be true Late Arrival Wednesdays (Year 6)

• Staff Meetings for Professional Development Not memo reading

• Department Meetings

• School Improvement Meetings

• Data Team Meetings

Collaborative Prep Periods • Twice a week with Data Teams (PLC)

• Three times a week with instructional team (once with admin and grade level counselor)

Technology

Safety

Facility Improvement

Olweus Anti Bullying

Character Ed

Fundraising

Student/ Staff Recognition

PLC = Professional Learning Community

All of our educational practices revolve

around 4 key questions: • 1) What do we want our students to learn?

• 2) How will we know if they have learned it?

• 3) What will we do if they have not learned it?

• 4) What will we do if they already know it?

Common Formative Assessments

67% of responders believe this to be true

Point of focus (current families vs

community?)

NMS Facebook pages

Twitter @RaiderPrincipal

NMS Websites

School Messenger Phone Calls

Handouts/newsletters/emails • Status of newsletters

70% of responders (to this question)

attended this Fall’s parent teacher

conferences

Less than 60% of our total families

attended this year

57% of responders believe current

format to be appropriate

12% of responders disagree

31% of responders unsure

Several responders mentioned a desire for a split up of the grades

Several also responded asking for a new format

Current time is 8 hours over 2 days. If teams met with each family in a schedule, that would allow for 4 minute slots: not realistic

Will look to separate all 3 grades and try open time slots by families last names (similar to Back to School Night)

81% of responders believed that NMS

actively encourages parents to be

involved in our school

Ways to be involved: • PTO

• Milk shake

• Classrooms

• Reality Day, CSI Day, Civil War Day, Bonneyville

• MANY other opportunities

38% of responders believed NMS to be

welcoming of community involvement for

members not currently with students

attending

RED ALERT!!!!

Perception? We WANT to be open and

available to all: we love to show off!

Communication?

Reality of Safety needs

55% of responders believe that we are active in our community

35% of responders were unsure How we are involved:

• Civics Activities (Town Parks, Food Pantry, etc…)

• Community Fundraisers

• Chinese New Year Celebration

• Ability Day

• Speaking engagements

• Performances/ Events

85% of responders believe we value and

support our community values and

traditions

We sure hope we do!!!

79% of responders believe this to be true

It takes a village

76% of responders believe this to be true

We Need Your Help

88% of responders believe this to be true

How do we communicate student

performance: • Traditional grade cards/ progress checks

• Powerschool Parent access

• Moodle work

• Phone calls/ emails

Benefits of teaming

85% of responders shared that they know who to call if their child is struggling in school

Suggestions: • Struggle in one particular class: contact the

teacher directly. Phone call or email

• Struggle in several classes: contact the team and/or counselor/ admin

• Concerns beyond academic performance: counselor/ admin

69% of responders believe this to be true We welcome any info you can share We are not in the business of gossip We always want to understand the “why”

behind our students • Behaviors

• Academic performance

Additional information helps us to understand the context of behaviors/ concerns

Top 5 Responses • 1) Helping child explore career choices (50%)

• 2) Applying for scholarships and student loans

(46%)

• 3) Tips to help your child do better in specific

subjects (45%)

• 4) Applying to colleges (36%)

• 5) Motivating your child to do homework (35%)

1) Helping child explore career choices (50%) Currently a focus of our school counselors time

with students in the classrooms • Drive of Your Life

• Career Day

• Career Center/ Ivy Tech presentations

• Peer mentor program in Functional Skills

• NUMATS: 29 NMS students took SAT/ ACT tests

20 are now eligible for NCAA Division 1 Athletics

What can we add? • Online links to resources

• Parent/ student exploration night?

2) Applying for scholarships and student loans (46%)

4) Applying to colleges (36%) Clearly we are interested in planning ahead! What we currently do

• 21st Century Scholars

• Early SAT/ ACT

• Discussions on grades and importance of involvement

What can we add? • More online resources?

• Parent night?

• Activities with NHS staff

3) Tips to help your child do better in specific subjects (45%)

What we do • Teacher instruction and resources • www.whatsduetoday.org with links • Websites with “Flipped” or Instructional Videos • Khan Academy • 1- 800 - Ask - Rose • List of private tutors

What can we add? • Additional online resources • Monthly addition to our communications?

5) Motivating your child to do homework (35%) What we do

• Daily encouragement and reminders

• Time to share individually impact on grades (RaFT)

• PASS

• www.Whatsduetoday.org

• Raider Bucks / incentives

• Parent conferences with student

What can we add? • Other incentives

• Additional online resources

• Parent Night

90% of responders believe this to be true

What a terrific custodial staff we have

under the direction of our head custodian

Sherie Neff and our district Director of

Buildings and Grounds Jeff Palmer

Plus, our students help us take of OUR

school tremendously well!!!

72% of responders believe this to be true Better equipped every year Moving Targets What we have:

• 7 computer labs (3 for general use and 4 for specific courses)

• Laptop carts • Promethean Boards

• Document Cameras (ELMO) • Active Responders • Digital cameras

• Graphing calculators (T.I.83 and Inspire) • Always looking for fiscally responsible ways to add more

access

94% of responders shared that their

student has access to the internet every

night from home

Skewed (online survey), with paper

copies

Recent class surveys confirmed 95%+ of

students had access to the internet

nightly via home, neighbor, other family

member, or other access (library)

All categories but “Other” were over 40%

Skewed?

Additional data needed

May be possible solution to technology

access for students: BYOD?

69% of responders shared that they were

comfortable with this

21% Unsure

Believe many would be more

comfortable with more specific plans

21st Century Skills: Not a 100% substitute

More data/ input needed

63% of responders believe this to be true This has been and will continue to be an area of

focus for us What we currently do:

• Embed technology into lessons/ instruction

• Create lessons and projects for students to use available technology

• Google Docs

• Keyboarding

• PEG Writing

• Presentations Teacher Evaluations and 21st Century Skills Moving Targets Constraints of our greatest commodity: Time

69% of responders believe NMS students

have an appropriate amount of

homework each night

18% disagree (Too much? Too little?)

Area of focus for staff discussion/

professional development next year

Unified philosophy that we can better

communicate

57% of responders believe student discipline is handled appropriately at NMS

27% unsure If your child hasn’t experienced it, its hard to have an

opinion Compare this with upcoming safety data Purpose is to change behavior: not a “pound of flesh” Discipline options: warnings, noon detentions, after

school detentions, Saturday school, In School Suspensions, Out of School Suspensions, Expulsions, and creative options (service,gym,whistle, reading outloud)

Always an area of focus for us

84% of responders believe that NMS offers an appropriate number of extra curricular clubs and activities

In addition to sports/ music already mentioned, we offer:

• Jazz Band, Leisure League, School Dances, NJHS, Pep Band, Show Choir, Chinese Culture Club, Spanish Club, Yearbook, Student Council, Art Club, Video Game Club, Academic Superbowl, Science Olympiad, Geography Bee, Math Counts, Oratorical contest, Spell Bowl, Spelling Bee, Battle of the Books and added for next year a Computer Coding Club

• Academic Superbowl Math Team = 2014 State Champs!

Celebrated monthly during pep sessions

56% of responders are generally pleased

23% of responders were not

Additional data needed

Restraints/ Mandates of school food

services

85% of responders believe our students

leave us prepared for their next stage

Asked again to check validity as well as

add in other endeavors

75% of responders believe this to be true What we do (thanks to the benefits of

teaming): • Team collaborations for student improvement • PLC • RTI Centers for LA and Math (LEAP and MERGE) • Academic Support/ Guided Practice • Northridge Academy Alternative School • Raider Focus Time (RaFT) • PASS • Lunch/ before school sessions • Websites with video lessons

62% of responders said their children

50% of responders answered the NMS

website

** 20% of responders mention NMS

Facebook

Facebook and Twitter are the most

utilized avenues for us • Immediate dissemination of info

• We know you see it

87% of responders believe that NMS is a

positive place for all who enter

94% of responders believe NMS to be a

safe place for all

Our #1 job

School Resource Office Jeremy Shotts

Assistant Principal Rachel Vallance

School safety specialists (2 on staff)

A.L.I.C.E.

Olweus Anti-Bullying Program

Need better local coverage of all middle school sporting events and fine arts

events: It is certainly an area to grow. Hometown radio?

Need more and better parking areas at the front. Provide visitor parking near

the main school entrance. Next year 2 areas will be available for student drop

off and pick up. Should help immensely. During school day, parent parking/

drop off/ pick up CAN happen in our front lot.

Stop making surveys so long : Noted (response by < 21 year old)

I do not feel that school events (other than sports and music) are advertised.

We will do our best to include all needed information via Facebook, Twitter,

and our school website.

Not having students in the school yet, I feel like I miss many of the activities. I

wish there was better advertisement of the programs and performances. Again,

“Go To” information locations should be our Facebook page, Twitter Feed, and

our NMS website.

Have other processes been considered for how elective classes are assigned? I

have to believe that there is a better system than a "lottery". (ex. Having Spanish

and Chinese in same quarter because that's what the computer said. If a student

is not in band, choir, or an assistance class, they take every course we offer. This

will be considered again for future years.

It would be helpful to inform parents when topics of a sexual nature are

presented to my child in health. Also, it would be nice to be informed when my

child will be watching movies, regardless of what rating it is, but especially PG-13.

There are many that we would not allow our children to watch that are rated over

PG, even though they may be 13 years of age. More communication with parents

on the "touchy" subjects would be appreciated. Agreed. As a parent I would want

the “heads up” on these issues as well.

Would like to see more technology used at NMS. Would also like to see STEM

curriculum added, more emphasis on math & science and students encouraged

to think creatively to apply these concepts. Also options for summer camps in

these areas as well as foreign languages. Though our curriculum is not STEM in

verbiage, we believe that we do follow and practice high levels of these

curriculums. The Elkhart County Horizon Project is looking into finding more

ways to create access to STEAM curriculums across the county.

I believe that the middle school needs to be careful with technology so as not

to leave out people, such as the Amish population. I would also like to see more

consistency between teachers in regards to homework. I have a child who has

been on the honor roll both times this year. Most days my child gets slammed

with math homework and has very little from other subjects. It seems that there

should be consistency in this across subjects. Agreed. I don’t see that we

would ever be a true 1 to 1 school, but that doesn’t mean that increased use of

technology will not be considered. Homework philosophy will be a topic we

address as a staff in the 2014-2015 school year.

I appreciate our school system, no system is perfect, but as someone who has

experienced many different school systems - we have one of the best. We

moved here for the school system. Period.

I think the Middle School does a fantastic job!!!

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for our benefit

Room number = 839088

www.socrative.com

Thank you for your attendance. I will be

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