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Curriculum Night

Curriculum Night is an opportunity to hear from your child's teacher about the classroom schedule and daily routine. We will have two concurrent sessions running from 6:30 to 6:55 and 7:00 to 7:25. Grades K-4 will repeat the same content in both sessions. The structure in grades 5-8 will be slightly different. 6:30 to 6:55 will give an overview of the middle school program as a whole. 7:00 to 7:25 will break into two groups: 5th grade and 6-7th grade. If you have a child in both the middle school program and the elementary program, we recommend that you attend the first session in middle school and the second session in the elementary school.

Our MCA results can be viewed here. You will note that the results show a mix of extraordinary success tempered by some clear indicators of areas for improvement. We can be extremely proud of our reading results across the board and particularly in 4th, 5th and 6th grade, where our kids scored 96%, 95% and 94% respectively. Another celebration is found in our 4th grade math scores. Ninety-five percent of our kids passed. This is a tribute to both our students and their teachers. It is also an affirmation of the strengths of immersion education. Students are tested in a different language than they are taught in and excel beyond their peers taught monolingually.

Our math scores in 3rd, 5th and 6th grade are a wake up call. At 56%, 55%, and 56% they are significantly lower than our goal. We are already monitoring how closely our curriculum is aligned with the Minnesota standards and how well it is being delivered by our teachers. Over the coming weeks we will analyze scores of individual students as well as a breakdown of how students scored in particular skill areas. Patterns in this data will help us understand the weaknesses in our program and guide an action plan to strengthen both what and how we teach.

There are several important caveats to keep in mind in interpreting these scores. The tests that students took in 2010 were NOT the same tests that were given in 2009. "Minnesota students in grades 3-8 took new, more rigorous math assessments aligned to higher standards designed to prepare all kids to be career and college ready." Mathematics results for all assessments cannot be compared across years. Grades 3-8 Math assessments align to standards with increased rigor (Minnesota Department of Education News Release). Scores across the state dropped as part of the transition from the MCA-II to the MCA-III. We at Twin Cities German Immersion School take responsibility for our own students' scores and are committed to their improvement. It is also important to know that their performance is part of a statewide pattern, as math instruction and expectations shift to the newer, higher standards.

Thank you! 

Thanks to volunteers, board members, strings players, and students 

Special thanks this week to Davis Morrissey and Jesse Zibble for the ongoing work on keeping us technologically up to speed. We have no technical expert on staff and are extremely reliant on our volunteers to keep us all in shape with updated and functioning equipment.

Thanks also to Board members Lisa Friedman, Kim Kompel, Renee Moelders, Anita Ratwik, Marcus Sheire, Gregor Adriany, Matt Schneider, Susanne Grimm and Eric Hauth-Schmid. Serving on the board means countless hours spent pouring over documents of a wide diversity of topics. Providing the big picture overview that keeps us academically strong and fiscally sound is quiet behind the scenes work that can too easily go unnoticed. 

Thanks to Linda Michel for her work as our liaison to our sister city, Neuss.

Thanks to strings players Anna Weimholt, Alena Oxenham, Till Konzcak and Caelan Oxenham for greeting our Neuss visitors with appropriate pomp and ceremony through their performance and to Sylvia Oxenham, their director.

And, last but not least, thank you to the middle school science students for helping clean up the garden last week!