|
Dear Glacial Drumlin Students and Families,
Parents, students, community members, and staff are vital partners in the development of a strong school culture. We invite you to share the responsibility for building a supportive and collaborative school community where students are valued both individually and collectively.
We appreciate your involvement in helping Glacial Drumlin staff live this vision for students:
To build a 21st century community of learners where all students are motivated to find their purpose, to clearly see their worth, and to realize their full potential.
To that end, we recognize the importance of helping students prepare for the demands of the 21st century as citizens, employees, family members, friends, and neighbors. We believe the educational process should provide the foundational skills to equip students for the future. The partnership for 21st century skills provides a framework for us to shape our educational curriculum, social, and life skills using these principles:
- Core Subjects defined as English, reading or language arts, math, science, foreign languages, civics, government, economics, the arts, history, and geography.
- 21st Century Content including global awareness; financial economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy; civic literacy; and health and wellness awareness.
- Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Literacy involves the ability to use technology in the context of content learning to solve problems, use information efficiently, and communicate effectively.
- Life Skills involve skills such as leadership, ethics, accountability, self-direction, people skills, personal responsibility, and social accountability.
- Assessments include abalance of standardized testing along with effective classroom assessments that provide feedback and direction in the mastery of content and skills central to successful student outcomes.
- Learning and Thinking Skills are comprised of:
ü Critical thinking and problem solving skills
ü Communication skills
ü Creativity and innovation skills
ü Collaboration skills
ü Contextual learning skills
ü Information and media literacy skills
Students are invited to develop their talents, participate, and serve through these opportunities: band, orchestra, choir, and co-curricular activities such as athletics (volleyball, basketball, track, cross-country) Student Council, Destination Imagination, and Peer Mediation.
Core curriculum in grades 6-8 includes instruction in English, Spelling, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Core curriculum at fifth grade includes Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Spelling, and Reading. Students with targeted needs are provided additional support services through our resource teachers. Specialized instruction in reading includes Read 180 as well as small group instruction to improve fluency, decoding, and comprehension skills.
In grades 6-8, students have the full range of encore/related arts offerings that include art, French+/or Spanish, computers, technical education, family and consumer economics, music, and physical education. Students in fifth grade are offered art, music, and physical education.
As a staff, we are on the journey of continuous school improvement. In our quest for engaging students in high quality education, we are committed to analyzing our student achievement and offering balanced opportunities in co-curricular activities and the arts. Student assessment is important in measuring student progress. Each year, students are tested in Language Usage, Math, and Reading using the Measures of Academic Progress to determine student annual growth. Eighth graders also participate in the ACT EXPLORE test in preparation for high school and post-secondary planning. All students participate annually in the Measures of Academic Progress.
The following are school improvement goals for Glacial Drumlin:
- To increase student achievement across content areas to 65% of students meeting growth targets in Measures of Academic Progress (MAP). This would place the school in the top 10% nationally based on MAP norms.
- Staff will develop and implement a specific long-term plan for improving school climate with actions to support improvement as determined through stakeholder survey input using pre and post data through 2010-11.
We value our partnership with parents in helping students grow academically and socially. I look forward to serving as your principal. Enjoy the year ahead!
Sincerely,
Renee Tennant, Principal
| 
