PTSA Dateline Letter January 2008 Edition
I enjoy a challenge. Submitting monthly entries for the Dodgen Dateline, for example, has the potential to become an exercise of torment. The occasional dilemma rests not with a concern over a scarcity of topics; quite the contrary. Students, teachers, staff, and parents who make up the Dodgen community and create the best possible learning environment provide for me many opportunities for inspiration. The occasional challenge comes when I choose to write about potentially boring topics such as I have for this column.
When I say School Improvement Plan (SIP), do you lean forward and wonder with great anticipation and unbridled excitement, scarcely able to wait to read the next word? I didn’t think so. More likely, you have the urge to cease reading my article and move on to the next interesting entry in the Dateline? Keep reading. I offer no guarantee of excitement, but I think you will at least learn something of which you were not aware.
Dodgen’s SIP consists of two major goals. Our student performance goal states that all students will be proficient readers and writers. The school performance goal stresses the importance of developing collaboration among all staff members that will lead to increasing student achievement in all disciplines, with an emphasis on literacy. A school’s SIP consists of several major parts. With the limited space allowed, I would like to focus on the section referred to as the School Profile.
Very few, if any, middle schools in the state have experienced such drastic changes as those that have occurred at Dodgen over the past several years. Our profile in the year 2002-2003 included an enrollment of 838 students with 2.98% participating in the free/reduced lunch program. Of those students, 92% met or exceeded standards in English/Language Arts (ELA) on the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), while 95% met or exceeded standards in math. Fast forward to the 2006-2007 school year and you will find a net growth of just under 250 students for an official count of 1079. Free/reduced lunch program participation increased sharply to 9.17%. Figures show that 97% and 93% of all students met or exceeded standards on the CRCT in ELA and math respectively. The current 2007-2008 school year finds us with a current enrollment of 1142. The CRCT is administered in the spring each year, so there are no results to report for our current students. If the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), which was administered to 8th grade students earlier this year, is any indication, our students and teachers continue to impress. The composite score for our 8th graders ranked in the 77th percentile. This was up three points from last year. I am also proud to note that while the overall county score in math went down one point, Dodgen’s went up by the same margin.
There are two primary reasons for the changes in our student population. Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, and ending last year, students from five middle schools not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) were allowed to transfer to Dodgen. We have welcomed a little more than 200 students over the course of three years as a result of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. We welcomed an additional number of students as a result of the redistricting effort with a neighboring middle school.
As you absorb the statistics shared in the paragraphs above, I hope that you can appreciate their significance. I am very proud to note that such a change in our enrollment over the past few years has been met with a consistent, stable, and nurturing learning environment. Students continue to receive a rigorous instructional program from teachers and staff determined to help them achieve. I find myself welcoming in the new year counting yet another blessing as I work beside these dedicated professionals.
