Once students leave the buildings for the summer our work activities look much different than they do when school is in session. During the first few days following the departure of our students, that work centers on finishing up with the teaching staff. This includes such things as making sure they have all their paperwork and requisitions in order, evaluations are up to date, and they have properly checked out with building administrators. Following that, one of the primary tasks on our 'to do lists' is completing numerous reports that need to be submitted to the state.
For the most part, filing reports for the state is the antithesis of fun, but it does serve a purpose. It requires us to sift through multiple points of data. Data that includes attendance, numbers of students in courses, how many days (minutes and hours) of instruction were delivered, and most important: the academic gains of our students. Now, we don't have all our data yet but it is enough to begin painting a picture that, in many ways validates the hard work that was put in this year by our teachers and students. It enables us to take a holistic look at our systems and begin to think ahead and set goals for the school year that will begin in just a couple of short months. This week I found myself looking at elementary reading scores, which corroborates the outstanding academic achievement of our students.
Here is a snapshot of those scores. The first thing that you should notice is the very high percentage of students who have shown growth in their respective grade levels Then, take a peak at the average gain across the school. I've got to be honest here, this is outstanding. Finally, if you look at second grade, you'll notice they made the most significant amount of growth! Any idea why this is so significant? This is the grade level that missed virtually the entire fourth quarter of their kindergarten year due to COVID. We have been watching them closely and have implemented numerous strategies designed to close the achievement gap. These gains clearly demonstrate that what we are doing in the classroom is working. Now, to be fair we don't have our final ISASP scores back yet so it is way too soon to know what this will look like in the final analysis, but all signs are that our students continue to perform at very high levels.
This high level of achievement isn't just limited to the elementary school. I just happened to be out of state when news broke about the latest rankings being released by the
US News and World Report. Hudson High School once again was ranked in the top 25% of school nationally and in the top 10% statewide, (well actually 8.6% but who's counting, right?). It came as no surprise then, that the average GPA for the Class of 2022 was 3.57 with 10 students earning a 4.0 GPA. This, by the way is just shy of 25% of the entire class. That class also earned more than $450,000 in scholarships for their postsecondary education.
Sometimes when we see this kind of academic excellence you begin to wonder: is this truly an accurate depiction? If there were but one data point, perhaps we could question the reliability of the instrument. That is not what we are seeing here. By every measure:
Iowa School Performance Profile, US News and World Reports, and local achievement data our students are performing at high levels and making significant growth in their learning year over year.
Our secret is really no secret. We do what works. That starts by staying true to the Iowa Core Academic Standards and ensuring our curriculum is in strong alignment. It is through progress monitoring our students and designing and delivering interventions that are research based and proved to work. It is by implementing a robust professional development program where our teachers are able to learn about the latest instructional strategies and have dedicated time to collaborate with one another to ensure implementation with fidelity.
This is not a one off. By every measure our students are performing at high academic levels. It's great to be a Pirate!
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