Climbing on the Shoulders of Success
In the coming days, we will be sending reports to you regarding student progress. It’s an important juncture in the year and provides a wonderful platform for conversations with your children about goals and aspirations for when we all return to greet a new calendar year. MYP and DP reports in particular will have a significant refresh with the implementation of methodologies aligned to our overall journey toward becoming a “continuum” school. While new for ASW, these reports have been modeled from the best and most successful International Baccalaureate schools around the world, tested for structure and content, and reliable in providing actionable feedback to students and parents.
We would like to believe that this first iteration of a new style of reporting will go without difficulties. But, we are mindful that the first time with anything of this magnitude is likely to be tested by unforeseen challenges and we are fully ready to address these as they emerge, improving our practice with each iteration. Here are some things to be thinking about:
- With this report, we reaffirm again our commitment to PowerSchool. We’ve tried to make this easy and seamless, but access challenges are still likely to emerge. If you are not yet a regular user logging in to PowerSchool, sort this out earlier rather than later. It is our primary platform and you should be a regular at this doorstep. Your upcoming report will require this level of access.
- It’s not just grading anymore. As was shared in the parent meeting recently, you need to think differently about the numbers attached to each course. They are markers that have criteria associated with them and cannot be averaged or summarized in simple ways. Click on the links that are provided and dig deeper into what the number represents from the criteria for each performance level.
- It’s in the comments! Teachers put tremendous effort into capturing your student’s journey through their learning. It isn’t going to be perfect, but it should open the doorway to additional conversations if you don’t understand. Reach out to teachers as necessary to get clarification. We’ll have conferences very shortly after this in January. Come prepared with insights and in search of deeper understanding where necessary.
There are more changes coming to reports in the future. More adjustments to MYP/DP (MS/HS) and some more distinctive changes to the PYP (ES). The board received reports on this during their Monday meeting and will receive regular reports with other changes as they are implemented. You will also have opportunity to provide additional feedback in the spring.
Calendars
We received approval for our calendars, both 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, at the board meeting on Monday night. They have been posted on our website and mark the first time that we have more than one year ahead planned. In the future, we will assure that two years of future calendars are always generally available for the school community.
Happy Holidays!
My best wishes for a wonderful holiday season! May joy and blessings be with you all! From the Zurfluh family to all Warriors — students, parents, staff — our best wishes for a Happy New Year!! See you all in 2018!