Bayfield principals described their academic focuses for this year at the Aug. 26 school board meeting and their plans to address weak areas in state assessment test results from this past spring.
"We had some areas of celebration and some areas of concern" from the test results, Superintendent Troy Zabel said. The Colorado Department of Education released those result earlier in August.
Middle school reading scores were good, especially the eighth graders, with 89 percent of them scoring at proficient or advanced, Principal Karen Lunceford said.
Zabel added, "They did well in every category. Their scores were off the charts."
Lunceford cited a younger class that is cause for concern. The district needs to tighten up its research-based interventions with struggling students, she said.
BMS scored pretty well in writing, particularly the improvements individual kids made from 2013 to 2014, Lunceford said. "We'll keep doing what we've been doing," she said.
She and English teacher Michelle Wennerstrom described a focus on explanatory writing in all subject areas, including math and PE. In math, students must write an explanation of how they arrive at an answer, not just give the answer, Wennerstrom said.
Lunceford said the kids write paragraphs based on something they have read, and they must back up what they are saying with something from the text. They score their own work based on the writing standards, so they really understand the standards and take ownership for their own achievement.
Then there's math. "The eighth grade really rocked," Lunceford said. "We were above the state average in math." But seventh grade math scores have gone down year to year since those kids were in fourth grade. "We don't want to live with that trend," she said.
Board member Levi Mead commented, "I was told some of the students don't make it through all their curriculum" in math.
Zabel said, "I think you'll see that in 95 percent of the math classes because of the time constraints." He cited a report about education in different countries that described math instruction in the U.S. as "a mile wide and an inch deep," compared to other countries that cover fewer math topics in more depth.
Elementary School Principal Diane Chambers said, "Our results over the years have been relatively flat and have gone down in some areas. I take it very seriously. In a great district like Bayfield, we expect so much more."
"We were less than satisfied with our writing results," she said. "I started working with the writing cadre today. We've rearranged our schedule so every kid has at least 60 minutes of writing each day." Writing will be the focus during late start Professional Learning Community (PLC) days.
Grades K-5 are using the Write Tools program. Chambers said kids in grades 1-3 will read a non-fiction text and then be directed to respond in writing, supporting what they say from the text.
"This quarter and possibly through the year, I'll do walk-throughs during writing to see if we're implementing the program with fidelity, to see if there are holes. ... We have our work cut out for us in writing, but hopefully it will make a difference" with everyone using the Write Tools program, Chambers said.
The elementary grades also need to show a lot of growth in math scores, she said. Especially with the kids who need extra help, staff need to pay attention to what interventions are being used, and whether these kids need to be re-grouped.
The district has hired a math intervention person who will work with kids in grades 3-5 who are struggling in math, Chambers said. The good news is gains in grades K-1 with kids who are learning numbers with manipulatives, like blocks or chains of beads. That system will move up grade by grade as those kids advance through BES.
Chambers also cited the need for differentiation in math and reading, teaching methods that can vary to work for kids that are below grade level in a subject as well as the kids who are ready to advance.
New high school Principal Leon Hanhardt said the new team in the main office is "relying on the experts, the teachers." Action plans will be posted on the walls.
The school has teacher PLCs within departments and a new cross-curricular PLC, he said. They are looking at ways to implement reading and writing strategies across all subject areas.
A focus in English will be critical thinking skills and writing with support from the text, Hanhardt said. In math, students will have to defend and explain their answers. Science is shifting from being teacher-led to student-led, with more higher level thinking.
"Increasing student investment in their own education is huge," Hanhardt said.
