Scot Graden's Blog

One of the nice features of our school website is the “staff lookup” feature. You can access it from the www.salineschools.com page. Run your curser over the “staff” tab along the top menu, go down to the “staff directory” link and click.

It will open the “staff lookup” page. You can type in a portion of the staff members name and it will pull their email and phone information up. If you don’t know the spelling, just give it a few letters and it guesses for you. If you are close, it will get the name and information. For me, this is often quicker than pulling out the printed list and it can accessed from anywhere. If changes occur, it updates as soon as a staff member moves and their new phone number is assigned, so it is always up-to-date.

Those of you have been to any of the offices that I have had over the last 10 or so years know that I am a pretty big Detroit Tigers fan. Well, after a rough 15 or so years, the last two have been very good. This year’s squad is as good as I have ever seen. True, they need some bullpen help, but I have faith they will add some arms if needed.

I plan to head down to the park a few times, starting this week. Okay, so this post has nothing to do with Saline schools – I’m just excited for the season.

A common formative assessment is a fancy name for a pretest, or so I thought! As an administrative team, we have begun reading and discussing the 2006 book, Common Formative Assessments authored by Larry Ainsworth and Donald Vieght. This opportunity provided me with the chance to learn more about where we (and many high-achieving schools) are heading in terms of instructional practices.

Basically, in the traditional education model a pretest is given followed by instruction. To conclude the unit, a posttest evaluates learning and grades are assigned. In this newer model, a formative assessment is given followed by analysis of the results, a differentiated instructional plan, instruction, monitoring and adjustments, more instruction and a summative assessment. Sounds pretty easy, right?

Now, the word “common” is in the title. The “common” aspect comes in when each teacher is using the same assessment. This allows us to understand each student’s present knowledge compared to the larger picture. How do I know that a 4th grade student at Harvest, is getting the same information as a 4th grade student at Pleasant Ridge and that they are getting the same as a 4th grade student at Woodland Meadows? “Common” formative and summative assessments help us understand where our students are at in terms of learning.

At the secondary level, common assessments given in an academic area are already in place in many departments. We know that all of our students who complete our world history class have been assessed on the same information, whether that took it with Mr. Fox, Mr. Smigielski, Mr. Boze or Mr. Schmier doesn’t matter.

As an administrative team, we still have extensive learning and analyzing to do regarding assessments and using the data they provide. We are looking at norm-referenced assessments through NWEA; we have reviewed (and ruled out for 2008-2009) Pearson assessment building software and have piloted a Gates reading assessment at Harvest this year. As much as I would love to have a “one size fits all” approach that can be purchased cheaply and implemented easily with nearly 100% staff buy-in right from the start – we do not live in that world!

Here in Saline, we are blessed with professional staff that is committed to continuous improvement, which makes this process much easier for all of us. We are also blessed with families that value education and support staff and administration as we advance our understanding of best practices.

More to come on this topic….

When the weather breaks, the new sign for the High School will be installed!

This week I had the chance to stop by and check the completed projects from the Extreme Middle School program. Hannah Chen, Claire Koerschner, Jacob Liebowitz, Joey Omichinski, Lindsey Stolzenfeld and Amelia Waters participated in the group that met Monday mornings before school to work on their projects with the help of assistant principal Ms. Michelle Szczechowicz. The projects included selecting a research topic and developing a research blog. The students did an excellent job of picking topics they were interested in and following appropriate research techniques to explore each topic. Pictured below are Clarie Koerschner, Amelia Waters, Hannah Chen and Joey Omichinski.

There were two scheduled reports at the meeting. First, Leslee Neithammer, the director of the Saline District Library shared information regarding the progress on building renovations. The project is coming along very nicely and is set to re-open this May. We’ll miss having them at Liberty School, although Ms. Neithammer indicated she and her staff are excited and eager to move back to the remodeled library facility.

Next up was Mr. Neal Elyakin who delivered a well-rounded review of our Special Education department. Mr. Elyakin has been the director of special education since May, 2007. His review included information regarding staff and an increase in student enrollment within the department. He provided insight as to how this has occurred during a time of slightly declining enrollment in the district as a whole. Our Young Adult program was highlighted as a model that many in Washtenaw County are looking to replicate.

The Board then approved the CARES Advisory Council’s phase II recommendations that included various projects totaling over $443,000. CARES funds must be spent on programs and projects that support cultural arts, recreation, enrichment, or senior citizen services. The projects for this phase include: Saline Area Youth Baseball and Softball field updates, school theatre improvements, Henne Field re-development, Saline Community Garden expansion, Rec On the Go, Movie in the Park, new campus athletic complex infrastructure, Saline Community Television Network equipment upgrades and Woodland Meadows playground pathway and structure.

The Board then reviewed and approved the purchase of 5 new school busses for the 2008-2009 school year. The overall cost will be over $420,000. The cost will be over a 6 year payment schedule, with annual payments of $80,000. Transportation director Ms. Cyndi McLennan and Mr. Tom Wall both highlighted the need to continue to replace busses in our aging fleet. We currently have 44 buses and would like to get to a 10 year cycle of replacement. Our oldest bus right now is 19 years old – the purchase of these busses will allow us to retire that bus. No busses were purchased during the present school year.

There were also a couple of business action items related to electronic transfers and possible borrowing of funds during the summer months to effectively manage cash flow.

The next regular Board of Education meeting is Tuesday, April 8 at 7:00pm.

Today was the lumberjack breakfast at Woodland Meadows. All the 4th grade classes enjoyed a hearty breakfast before heading out to work. The breakfast was very quiet – there was no talking allowed. This was to keep from having any “brawls” take place between unhappy shanty boys.

Once they got to camp, “The Boss”, Mr. Derren explained what a lumber camp would have been like in 1870. His energtic and engaging presentation kept the students and staff on the edge of their seats. The event is a great tie-in to the Michigan history portion of the 4th grade curriculum.

Mr. Marshall went all out in shanty boy gear. Thank you to the volunteers and staff who pulled this event off – the students loved it. Although, Ms. Durst was disappointed she missed the food!

For those of you heading south to Orlando, Florida over spring break – be sure to stop in to see the Saline High School Marching Band perform in the afternoon parade in the Magic Kingdom on Monday, March 31 at approximately 2:30pm.

This is a huge undertaking with over 210 students, 18 chaperones, 3 Directors and 5 buses. This is the 3rd time Mr. Lampman has been accepted to perform at Disney. The band has been fortunate to go every four years so all students get a chance to participate.

I will try to get some pictures to post once they return home.

This is a tough time of year for our spring student-athletes, parents and coaches. Our girls water polo team is about the only program that can count on practices and games being held at the same place. Soccer and lacrosse are able to make great use of the turf fields, which are a blessing this time of year. Both programs have regular season games this week. Good weather is on the way, right?

Our last two team state champions – boys golf and boys track – compete in the same season for the first time this spring. Both programs are looking strong again this year.

Stay up-to-date on game schedules by bookmarking the Athletic Department website. The site also contains recaps of the winter season and important fall 2008 practice schedule information.

Well, I went… it was quite a show! Below you will see Elvis started the evening off on a solid note. Nice work Mr. Hill and the Golden Sting staff. I would also like to add that Mr. Pike made some “beautiful” contributions to the show….

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