Growth vs Proficiency

In recent weeks there has been a lot of discussion in our nation about what student growth and student proficiency really means and what is the difference between them. Growth is the amount of progress a student makes from one point to another point in time.  For example, student A is a seventh grader that is reading at a 5.0 grade level at the start of the school year.  By the end of the school year student A is reading at 6.7 grade level.  In this case student A had a 1.7 grade level growth.  If this were a real case this would be considered a very good year and great growth in that the student improved by 1.7 grades in just one year.  Proficiency, on the other hand, is a measure of a student’s ability at one moment in time compared to a set standard or measuring a student according to their level of mastery of grade level material. In the above example, student A would be considered non proficient because they were not at or above their grade level.  In many cases proficiency is a yes or no question. The student is either proficient or is not proficient.

So, how does this apply to Vestaburg Schools?  At Vestaburg, we use a tool called N.W.E.A.  This is an assessment that students take three times a year (Fall, Winter, and Spring) that is intended to measure student growth first and foremost.  While it provides data that can be used to help determine proficiency its primary goal is to measure a student’s growth.  The goal is for every student to make at least one year of growth during each school year.  However, in Michigan every student is required to participate in the M-STEP (formerly MEAP) assessment each year.  This is a proficiency test that is designed to measure whether a student is proficient (at grade level) and how many students in our school are proficient (at grade level).  Making this confusing is teachers are evaluated by growth rates and schools are measured by proficiency rates.  This would be less of an issue if every student came to school with the same skills and matured at the same rates.  However, we all know this not be true.  For many reasons some students come to school with different abilities and struggles.  This does not mean that they cannot and will not be able to learn or be successful, but rather that they all do it at different rates and times.  

While we use both measures to evaluate our program, our primary focus is growth.  We believe that all students can and will learn. We expect our students to make a full years growth each year and for students that are behind or not at proficient we work to help those students make more than a year’s growth so that they can become proficient.  We cannot change where a student is or their past but we can change where they are going and the progress they make.  We believe in a Growth Mindset.  I will be discussing this in more detail in future articles and blogs, however, a simple way of thinking about a Growth Mindset is that it is not that a student cannot do something, it is that they cannot do it yet!

Lastly, there is an very likely chance that in the coming weeks you may see reports and articles about the Michigan Department of Education discussing the state test (M-STEP) and either making changes to this test or possibly adopting the N.W.E.A. as the new state assessment.  As you hear or read about this keep in mind the difference between student growth and student proficiency and it relates to what we are doing at Vestaburg Community School.  We ARE Vestaburg!

Small but Great!

We have all heard it, "the small town and small school cannot offer the same opportunities as the bigger towns and schools".  I could create a huge list of all the reasons that I do not believe this. I could list all the strengths of a small school and town that I believe outweigh any potential truth in this statement.  However, this weekend I was reminded of the one thing that best represents what makes the small school and community experience so powerful - support!  This weekend I had the privilege to attend a college basketball game of a former VCS student.   It is always great to have the opportunity to watch our students and graduates pursue their dreams and to support them in anyway possible whether in the classroom, on the playing field, or a simple conversation about life and how they are doing, however, what stood out was not the event itself.  While I was extremely proud of our former student, and believe that simply playing college athletics is a great achievement, it was what happened in the stands that stood out and lead to this blog.   You see, on this Saturday afternoon what stood out was walking into the facility and seeing 70% of all of the people in attendance were from our small community and school. It was great to see so many people there to support a friend, family, and former student.  While everyone cheered and wanted the best for the player on the court, they were there to show support.  They were there to show that while an individual may have graduated and are no longer a student at VCS they will always be a part of the Vestaburg family!  It is this kind of connection and support that outweighs any perceived opportunity or activity and makes our small community and school so special!  This is why I am proud to say We ARE Vestaburg!

A few updates and notes:

• VHS has received a grant and has started a robotics team.  The team will be creating a robot to compete at the state competitions in April.  This is a great learning experience for our students as they will be learning engineering, programming, and teamwork skills.  Anyone high school student that is interested in participating can see Mrs. Slezak. 
• Thursday January 19th and Friday January 20th are the end of the first semester and will be early release days.  Students will be released at 1:00 pm on both days.
• Due to several snow days, many athletic events have been cancelled.  Please look for updates on the rescheduled dates and times on the school Facebook page and/or visit www.schedulestar.com under the athletics tab on the school web-page.
• The district has used four (4) inclement weather days so far this winter.  The state allows for up to six (6) days to be forgiven, thus, anything after six (6) are required to be made up.  

Character - Cannot be Great Without It!

In education there is always an internal struggle regarding the idea of teaching character versus the content.  Are we here to teach students character or are we here to teach them skills and standards that will help them be successfull in life after school?  The answer is yes!  We are here to teach both.  The lessons that we teach on the content can and should also reinforce, model the importance of character and the role it plays in one's life.  As I watch this years election cycle and all of the debating about one candidate versus the other on certian issues I am reminded just how important character truely is.

To quote Michael Douglas's character in the movie The American President, "being president is 100% about character".  However, while I am chosing to use the election as a symbol or example to frame the conversation, I believe that life is 100% about character.  For the record, character is not the same as morals or beliefs.  Too many times we confuse character with individual beliefs.  Character is not about your position on certain topics but how you conduct yourself, especially when faced with a challenge. Two people can have the exact opposite beliefs and still both be people of high character. We do not have to tear down another person's character to make ours look better. Character is also not about being perfect or mistake free. Character is how a person conducts oneself when they are faced with a mistake that they have made.  Do you own your mistake and what do you do to fix it? Can you admit when someone else is right and you were wrong?  Can you do what you feel is right and handle the consequences that accompany any decision that you make, both good and bad?  Are you able to make sacrifices for what you believe in and those you love and not expect anything in return?  

As a leader, I beleive that character is backbone of everything one does.  You cannot be a great leader without being a person of character.  In leadership and in life, whether it is as a teacher, parent, manager, coach, or youth group leader, you will make mistakes but it is your character that will determine how you handle those mistakes.  It is our character that determines and motivates the decisions that we make.  If you are person of high character you can "reach across the aisle" (to use a political term) and help those that you do not agree with because it is the right thing to do.  

This election cycle has only shined a light on our issues as we tear down those that we do not agree with and blame everyone but ourselves for everything that is right or wrong with our society and our country.  As individuals, families, schools, communities, states, and a country we need to demostrate character and come together to help each other.  This means to debate what is best but to also then have the character to move on and make a difference even if we do not agree. As Dennis Prager stated, "Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people." 

Priority Status/M-STEP UPDATE

As some of you may know, Vestaburg High School was released by the State School Reform Office from the Priority School status. This was driven by the consistant growth we have acheived over the last 4 years.  For example, on the most recent data we demonstrated growth in 8 of the 10 areas at the secondary level.  In addition, thanks to the work of our staff district wide we have improved our state rankings by over 35% at the Secondary level in the last 3 years.  Thus, we were one of only 7 schools that were released from Priority status this past year.  

As a district, the staff continues to look at all areas and set goals to push our district forward.  One of the areas that has helped create our success has been our staff working together as a district to improve a variety of areas. For example, the staff is working through a district wide MTSS approach to address specific needs of our students.  Some of the strategies that we have implemented are common intervention times, coherence and updating of curriculums in all areas, a focus on classroom questioning for depth of knowledge and engagement, classroom learning labs, close reading strategies, and alot of data analysis including M-Step, ACT, SAT, and NWEA which we implemented 4 years ago as district level assessments.  

This year we are focusing on student engagement.  Our entire teaching staff attended a professional development session with Dave Burgess called "Teach Like A Pirate" that is designed to energize and engage students and staff. However, it all comes down to the work and commitment of our teaching staff and their focus on meeting the needs of each individual child.  The thing we are most proud of is how dedicated our staff is and how they continue to come together to do what is best for our students! 

This is proof and reinforcement of the fact that we have an outstanding staff at Vestaburg.  It demonstrates what is best about our district and our community in that, we always come together and are willing to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Thus, it is with confidence that we say that this is just the start and that we will continue to put in the hard work and make our school the absolute best it can be!  We ARE Vestaburg!

Back to School

August is a unique time of year.  On one had the "summer" is winding down and with that there is always some sadness.  However, on the other hand there are still some fun family time and vacations planned. Lastly, it is filled with the excitement of school clothes shopping, seeing friends and classmates, and of course all of the outstanding learning opportunities that come with a new school year.  For educators, it is the opportunity to get back to doing what we love and that is working with and educating our children. Although for many, students and staff alike, the alarm clock starts going off at what seems like a impossibly early time, this is one of the best times of the year.  As with any school year we assuredly will experience many high and lows, conflicts, and struggles, however, as long as we face them with an open-mind, respect for all involved, and as a team there is nothing that we will not overcome.   WE ARE VESTABURG!

This year we have many new staff members that are joining us including Mr. Tyler Nadeau, Middle School; Jennifer Mikek, Second Grade; Melanie Dunn, Kindergarten; Megan Brown, Kindergarten; Alaina Morneau, Middle School; Annette Mills, Middle School; Shelley Hall, Transportation, Laura Kimball, Food Service; Ally VanConant, Michigan College Access Network Advisor.  We are very excited about all of these individuals joining our staff and I hope that you will welcome them into the Vestaburg Family and show them how great it is to be a Wolverine!

As some of you may have already heard, we are very fortunate this year to be able to add a third kindergarten class.  In time of tough budgets and finances it is not always as easy of a decision as it would seem.  However, once again our Board of Education demonstrated its commitment to our students by supporting this addition.  In addition, through the commitment and support of the Board of Education we have been able to offer at least two sections at every grade level. This will allow us to keep our student to teacher ratio at a very low, manageable numbers which we all know has a positive impact on student learning.  In addition,  this year we have made some administrative changes and restructuring of duties.  Mrs. Weaver will now be the k-12 Principal and we have created a lead teacher system to help create a more efficient administrative team.  Thus, I will now be able to focus on the Superintendent duties and long term planning for our district.  As a school board, the focus is on creating long-term goals for the district that include creating a 3-5 year strategic plan that prioritizes the needs of our students.

Furthermore, it is a goal of all levels of our school district to invite and participate in meaningful two way collaboration and communications with all of our stakeholders including, students, parents, staff, and community members and organizations.  Some of you many have heard me say our school is our community and our community is our school.  I truly believe that we need to be a strong team and to support each other in order for both the community and the school to grow and thrive.  Neither one can maximize its potential without the other.  Thus, we will continue to seek input from all and to look for ways to increase opportunities for input and collaboration.

So, here is to a great school year!  I look forward to working with everyone and to watching our school continue to grow.  WE ARE VESTABURG!

Brandon Hubbard
Superintendent

A Time For Reflection and Looking Forward

On December 3rd, Vestaburg Community Schools held it's annual Parent/Math Night event.  This year the event was expanded to include topics for parent's of students in grades kindergarten through twelve grade including sessions on Career and College Readiness, Behavior Supports, Love and Logic, Math Homework Support and Attitude, Reading with My Child, Attendance and Athletic Eligibility, Online Learning, Math Programming, Technology in Math, Powerschool Support, Understanding and Preparing for Assessments, Math Games and Apps, and more.  All of these sessions were planned and ran by staff that voluntarily gave up their time to try and make a difference for our students and their families.  

In addition, a general update and message was presented to kick off the evening regarding Vestaburg Community School and what we need to do to continue moving forward.  As always the creation of such a message causes a person to reflect on past successes and failures, as well as, look forward to where we want to go and what needs to happen to get there.  This in addition to the celebration of the New Year and the usual reflection and planning/hope that it brings has led me to feel the need share the following message and update.

First, I cannot express how proud and grateful I am to all the people and hard work that has taken place at Vestaburg Community School. Everywhere you look there are professionals and individuals that are working hard to help our students be successful.  From being able to add a College Advisor/Counselor whose sole purpose is to help students and parents with the college process, to having 100% of our seniors complete a college application and apply to at least one college or university, to a dramatic increase of student scores on the ACT, to operating one of the largest and most successful preschool programs in our county, to the work being done in our common intervention times, to the work our teachers are doing with curriculum and instructional coaches and the willingness to voluntarily participate in teacher learning labs for the sole purpose of improving there are many great things going on at VCS.  There truly is not a day that goes by that we are not striving to improve our school and the education of our students. 

However, while we are working hard and improving everyday, just working hard is not enough! Working hard provides opportunities, it is not a guarantee that you will be successful.  That is not life and it is not reality. However, you cannot be successful without hard work.  This true for us as adults and educators and it is true for students. Thus, it is imperative that we as a school, parents, and a community continue to improve each and everyday. Furthermore, it is critical that as parents you support your child's teacher as they push their students beyond their comfort zones, progress is not made without struggle. Students need to think and problem solve. We cannot protect and prevent our child from this process and feeling some discomfort. This is what leads to growth and improvement. However, as important as this process is, equally important is how we support them and teach them to overcome the struggle. This is where as a community and as partners we need to work together. We do not have to have all the answers, but rather let our students and children know you care and are there to help them find the answer. Let them know you are there to help and empower them to think, learn, and overcome.  

In order to do this we as teachers, administrators, parents, and a community need to work together and support each other. As a school we encourage you to ask questions regarding your child's education. It is your right and your responsibility to do so. However, we ask that you do so adult to adult and do not do so in front of your child in a manner that may lead to your student losing respect for their teacher. Once that happens it is very hard to undo. It is important to remember that we are all working toward a common goal and want what is best for our children. With this in mind, we look forward to continuing to partner with each of you and working together to help every child be successful and to help to continue to push our school district forward. We Are Vestaburg!

October Power of One

Congratulations to the this month's Power of One Winners, our Middle School Staff.  Members of the staff are:  Ryan Elsea, Ben Steele, Stepheny Fouch, Lisa McKay, Jody Vissman, Jody Zinn, and Connie Marshall.

These hard working, dedicated teachers were chosen for all of their hard work with the re-opening of the Middle School wing.  In addition to all of the physical movement and work that goes into a transition of this magnitude, there has been a tremendous amount of curriculum work and changes that have accompanied this transition.  Each member of this staff has taken this on without complaint or apprehension!  They embraced the change and have been committed to making it the positive change for our students that it is inteded to be.

In addition, I would like to recognize Mrs. Darby Weaver for all of her hard work in helping to pull the changes together.  As the Prinicipal and the Curriculum Director she has done an outstanding job of pulling all the moving pieces together.  As always, she continues to do a great job of providing outstanding leadership and improving programs for our students.

Other nominees for this month were: Kim Hansen, Sherri Bussman, Tracey Reed, Barb Alexander, Stephanie Smith, and Jody Vissman. Each of these individuals are very deserving and their efforts help to make Vestaburg the Great School that it is!  Thank you.