Episode Details

Happy Friday!

As we wrap up Week 7 and our first 31 days of the school year, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for everyone's tireless efforts in fulfilling our district's mission. Teachers, staff, and administrators are going above and beyond to meet our district’s performance targets and create an effective learning environment. This week, we have reached a significant milestone with the release of our state-issued school report card, a valuable tool for assessing our strengths and areas for growth.

In addition to the state's evaluation, we have also gathered invaluable feedback from our community through a start-of-school survey. The insights we have gained offer a comprehensive view of how our efforts are resonating with the community and provide direction for our ongoing journey in educational excellence. Thank you for your continued dedication; you are the backbone of our district's success.

State Report Card & ESSA School Indices

All school report cards are out and can be viewed at myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov. I have also made a folder for all building reports to be viewed here. All earned a ‘C’ and PCVA remains a ‘D’. Mena Middle School and Louise Durham Elementary were ‘B’ schools last year. The decline is mostly because we dropped 6 points on the ACT Aspire. But, also, our chronic absenteeism cost us some points in their calculations and that also has an impact on the test scores. There is a report in the folder that is linked above that shows the chronic absenteeism amounts for each school.

Remember that we have the new ATLAS system now and can build our own assessments from it to measure growth throughout the year on just about everything as we did with reading last year. It is very important that those of you who can build Common Formative Assessments (CFA) with ATLAS so that students are familiar with the style, format, and especially the rigor of those questions. The ATLAS system is replacing the ACT Aspire to use in measuring our academic attainment.

We will continue to push toward our target performance for this year and have a better idea of how we will do at the end of the year, more than we ever did with the Aspire test.

A Good Start

Here is a summation of the Thought Exchange sent out through Thrill Share last week. (Summaries are created by Thought Exchange):

Key themes and sentiments

* Overall Summary

The responses indicate that the majority of parents are satisfied with the beginning of the school year, with many praising the teachers, communication methods, and the positive impact on their children's attitudes towards school. Some parents have experienced challenges, such as issues with paperwork, communication, and specific concerns for children with special needs. Overall, the start of the school year has been largely positive, with a few areas for improvement.

* Summary of the Highest Rated Thoughts

The beginning of the year has been largely positive for the participants and their students, with many children enjoying school and feeling excited to attend each day. Parents appreciate the open communication with teachers and staff, as well as the structured routines that help set their children up for success. Some students are thriving and learning new things, while others are adjusting well and feeling safe in their school environment. A few participants mentioned the importance of having a good relationship with teachers and the impact it has on their children's motivat