October 19 - October 23

D.C. Everest Senior High School Staff Update

Weekly Happenings

A few pictures from the week courtesy of Audrey Kemp!

Interesting Information

In preparation for this week's faculty meeting, I wanted to provide some refreshers to our faculty regarding the work we were engaged in prior to the pandemic hitting. Last year, on the first day of school, we had Dr. David Schuler present the research and purpose behind the Redefining Ready criteria. During the Fall of 2019 we sent three separate teacher groups to D214 in Illinois to look at varying ways in which emphasizing college and career readiness manifests itself in student learning and programming.  

In the early Winter of 2019, Dr. Nye and I presented to the school board regarding this work and again engaged the board in conversations during their February retreat.  One of the issues surrounding the messaging of the importance of the Redefining Ready framework is that we lacked a tracking tool for the Career Readiness indicators. During this week's faculty meeting, Rose Matthiae will be presenting on a tool that students will use as a one-stop hub to find job, career, and service information. Additionally, this tool will help students track their progress in relation to career readiness indicators.

We will be running an ELT schedule on December 2 and 3. Classes throughout the day will be restricted to 46 minutes, similar to last year's schedule.  During ELT, we are asking teachers to do three things.  First, reconnect (Juniors and Seniors) with your ELTs from last year or introduce yourself to the Sophomores. Second, hit play on the video that will be shared explaining the Redefining Ready criteria and the Transeo platform for students.  Third, help students log in and navigate through the Transeo platform. All of this information will be shared in subsequent blogs.

In the meantime, as a refresher, I have included the Redefining Ready overview and the indicators below.

National Career and College Readiness Indicators

America’s high schools have a profound responsibility to ensure that our nation’s 14 million high school students are college ready, career ready and life ready. Standardized test scores – traditionally used as the primary readiness indicator – do not always provide an accurate representation of our students’ potential. Like the global economy, today’s students are driven by ideas and innovations. They should not be reduced down to, or defined by, a single test score.

Redefining Ready! is a national initiative launched by the AASA (The School Superintendents Association) to introduce new research-based metrics to more appropriately assess that students are college ready, career ready and life ready.

The initiative is a response to dismal college and career readiness scores reported by standardized test makers that fail to portray a comprehensive picture of student potential.

Our students are MORE than a SCORE.

Our nation’s high schools provide students with rigorous academic programs, personalized and career-specific learning experiences, along with social and emotional skills that prepare them to be global citizens in an ever-changing world.

Students learn in a variety of ways. They should be able to demonstrate readiness in a variety of ways.

The new readiness indicators, developed from research by world-class organizations, more accurately reflect the educational landscape of the 21st century. Multiple metrics include Advanced Placement courses, Algebra II, early college credits, industry credentials, attendance, community service, among others.

Please find the Readiness indicators below:

Week Ahead

Virtual Faculty Meeting - Wednesday at 2:50 pm. Webex link will be shared in the coming week over email.

10/30 PD Day Canceled - October 30th is listed as a teacher PD day. We have decided that the number one thing teachers need right now is time - so the day is yours for class, PLC, or department work.  We are going to be flexible on this day - you can work from home if you need to.

Dr. Nye Webex - Monday, October 26, 2:50-3:20 pm Dr. Nye would like to connect with the senior high on things related to teaching and learning during this pandemic.  The topics he plans to touch on are: 1) Thank you for your work to support learning in all formats, 2) Foreshadow adjustments based on your feedback, and 3) Get feedback on areas we're looking to improve.  It is optional to join along but please do so at the start of the meeting and stay as long as you would like.  You can join by entering dce.webex.com/meet/cyne in Cisco Webex Meetings.

Academic Letter Recipients - We had 153 recipients of the Academic Letter Award this year.  To qualify for the letter and for medals to be put on the letter in subsequent years, students must maintain the following:  1) a minimum cumulative GPA--freshman 3.9, sophomores 3.75, and juniors 3.5, 2) earn the GPA designated for their respective grade level in at least one of the two semesters, and 3) demonstrate scholarship (not service work) beyond what has been required in class for a grade.  Students and parents will be receiving an IC email blast of congratulations and to pick up their awards early next week from Dawn Seehafer.

Important Dates, October:

21    Staff meeting @ 2:50pm Virtually

21    Annual Mtg/Budget Mtg @ 6pm, Board Mtg @ 6:30pm, SH Auditorium

28    BLT @ 2:50pm

30    Grading Table opens