Earlier this week at Morning Meeting, I had the privilege of announcing our Effort Honor Roll for the first quarter. I always enjoy recognizing students for this accomplishment and there is a palpable buzz before the names are read. This year I asked the students if they could define the criteria for getting on the EHR, and it took a few volunteers before it was defined correctly, which is having a score between 1 and 1.5 inclusively when their effort marks are averaged together from ALL their subjects. This means their overall effort must be balanced between "exceptional" and "good" in every area across the board. Students begin asking me shortly after progress reports reach home when the Effort Honor Roll will be announced, and I can see pride in our students' faces (and a few barely suppressed smiles from our older kids!) as they stand to receive their acknowledgement. One eighth grader let out a big sigh of relief as his name was announced near the end of the list!

This year around 60% of our Middle School kids achieved the 1.5 or below effort average necessary for making the list, which shows it is no "gimme," but certainly attainable. Basing our honor roll on effort and not grade attainment is a longtime St. Francis tradition that recognizes our students in terms of their desire and willingness to learn rather than just pure grade achievement. As many of us can probably recall from our days in school, earning As is simply not the same task for everyone. St. Francis has always stood behind the premise that honoring a child's effort towards learning is a more pro-social and meaningful acknowledgement than just honoring academic achievement, in which the playing field may not be level. Effort allows for children of all academic abilities to demonstrate their desire to learn and be a productive part of a learning community.

We have addressed in prior newsletters and to the students, due to our move to the quarter system, we have changed our criteria for making the Elizabeth Archibald Effort Honor Roll, which is recognized with a certificate at our end-of-the-year Assembly. To make the year-end honor roll (named for a long-time St. Francis Goshen teacher and administrator with whom some of us had the pleasure of working), a Middle School student now must make the effort honor roll three out of four quarters, with the fourth quarter being mandatory. This allows for students who miss any of the first three a chance to set new goals and strategies to aid in attaining this accomplishment, while also stressing the importance of finishing strong-an important life lesson for sure!

Congratulations to all our Effort Honor Roll Middle School Students for all their hard work and success. Please see the sidebar for the list of students.