| DeForest Area School District |
|
|
|
DAHS top 11 graduates, who were honored by the Badger Conference in April.
|
|
|
| For friends of the DeForest Area School District | June 2013 |
|
|
|
|
|
State initiatives on the horizon
As we look forward to the 2013-14 school year, there are a few initiatives at the state level that will affect our staff and schools. They fall under three main areas: Educator Effectiveness, Common Core, and the new WI Assessment and Accountability System. A brief summary of each is included in this issue of DASD News, with links to more information.
All of this, and more, will be posted on our district website this summer.
Thank you to our DASD families and community for a successful 2012-13 school year!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is a new uniform, statewide method for evaluating teachers and principals. 2013-14 is the pilot year for school districts to use Wisconsin's Educator Effectiveness System. It is a performance-based evaluation system developed by and for Wisconsin educators that balances an educator's professional practice with evidence of student achievement. Each counts for half of an educator's overall rating.
At DASD, all principals and a staff member from each school will be piloting the new system next year, and providing feedback to the WI Department of Public Instruction. The group will then help the entire district with implementation in 2014-15. There is a wealth of information available about the Wisconsin Effective Educator System on the Department of Public Instruction's website - http://ee.dpi.wi.gov/. |
|
Common Core
Common Core Standards are a shared set of rigorous benchmarked standards developed at the national level to prepare students to compete and succeed in college and the workplace. Teachers, content experts, parents, and community leaders all weighed in to help develop a set of consistent, clear K-12 academic standards in English language arts and mathematics. These standards have been adopted by over 45 states. Wisconsin has also adapted standards for Literacy in All Subjects.
|
WI Asssessment & Accountability System
Wisconsin is advancing education reforms to ensure every child graduates ready for further education and the workplace. These reforms build on our nation-leading graduation rates, college entrance exam scores, and more students taking rigorous college-level courses. On this foundation, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is implementing new standards and higher expectations for students and their schools. The focus is on four areas:
- Standards and Instruction: What and how should kids learn?
- Assessments and Data Systems: How do we know if they learned it?
- School and Educator Effectiveness: How do we ensure kids have highly effective teachers and schools?
- School Finance Reform: How should we pay for schools?
Information about Wisconsin's Accountability Reform is available on the DPI website.
|
Smarter Balanced Assessments
Beginning in the 2014-15 school year, Wisconsin's student assessment system will be based on the Common Core Standards. A common state summative assessment will be created and will replace the current Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam (WKCE). Wisconsin is also interested in adopting a college entrance exam as part of a balanced assessment system, such as ACT's EPAS (Educational Planning & Assessment) and Aspire.
|
|
As required by Wisconsin Act 166, an early literacy screener is currently administered to all kindergarten students (5K) beginning with the 2012-13 school year. This assessment provides administrators, teachers, and parents with valuable information necessary to improve the reading skills of students. Results are used to identify reading problems early on and to inform instruction. The data from the screener is not part of the new accountability system.
The Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS), developed by the University of Virginia, has been purchased under a state contract. Therefore, districts do not incur costs related to the purchase of the assessment.
Depending on the outcome of the state budget, 1st grade and 4K students may be added to this assessment in 2013-14.
|
|
Report Card
This past October, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) issued a School Report Card for each of our schools and for every public school in Wisconsin.
The School Report Card, using multiple measures of student learning, will provide valuable guidance on how our school is performing and where it can improve.
The School Report Cards are just one part of a new, statewide accountability system for schools. To develop the system, DPI worked closely with parents, educators, and members of the business community. The Governor, State Superintendent, legislative leaders, and the U.S. Department of Education also helped shape the new accountability system. This system, and the report cards, will grow and develop in future years. In fact, next year a "District" report card will be published, in addition to the individual school report cards issues this year.
|
|
DASD Goals
Staff on the District's Continuous Improvement Team have been poring over several pieces of data this past year, including PALS and the school Report Cards.
Based on their findings, they have established two primary goals for the 2013-14 school year:
- Increase reading achievement at all levels.
- Close the gaps in reading, math, and graduation rates between certain student groups.
|
 Farewell to our 2013 retirees
Ellen Lapp: Custodian, 32 years
Janet Howery: Special Education Teacher, 30 yearrs
Barb Domer: Special Education Teacher, 25 years
Emily Duane: Food Service Assistant, 22 years
Not pictured: Laurie Burton, Educational Assistant, 21 years
 On June 30 we say farewell to our current superintendent, Dr. Jon Bales, after 15 years with DASD. Bales has taken a new position as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators (WASDA).
Dr. Bales has been an exceptional leader for our district, always a champion for continuous improvement that focused energies of the district on accomplishing the community's mission and vision and the school board's stated "ends." We wish him well in his new endeavor.  Beginning July 1, Dr. Susan Borden will become the new superintendent of DASD. She is currently the superintendent of the Germantown Public Schools. She started her career teaching high school English in Matsudo Kokusai, Japan and also taught English at Menasha High School. She also served as a high school associate principal in Franklin and elementary principal in Muskego, Wisconsin. Susan earned her doctoral degree from the UW-Madison in the area of Educational Leadership. Dr. Borden is eager to begin developing relationships, learning more about DeForest, and engaging in the community. |
School safety & crisis preparedness
The DeForest Area School District works to be proactive in addressing school security and crisis preparedness. 
In September a new District School Safety and Crisis Preparedness Steering Committee was convened to examine, and give recommendations for, existing school safety and crisis preparedness practices. (See list of committee members on page 5.)
At the May 13 school board meeting, the committee presented an update on their work and made preliminary recommendations for moving forward.
Through the school year, members of the committee researched best practices in school safety and crisis preparedness, reflected and made recommendations in response to the safety audit completed by EMC in January 2013 and by their own observations.
Every school in the district had a parent meeting to discuss our district's safety practices. From those meetings and through email correspondence, the district had close to 100 inquiries or suggestions on our practices.
The committee's recommendations fall into four categories: Protocols and Procedures, Training, Building Security, and Communication. While all components of the plan cannot be shared (for security reasons), the following are some of the changes you may notice in the near future and others that will be happening behind the scenes.
What you will notice...
- Access to schools: students will be allowed in the elementary and middle school buildings 30 minutes before the start of school and 30 minutes after the dismissal bell unless in a school sponsored activity. Students and visitors must use the front main entrace at each building.
- Visitor check-in at schools will be changed slightly, requiring sign-in and identification. Front office staff will also be screening visitors a little more before allowing entrance into academic areas of the buildings.
- Community "Walk the Halls" - community members will continue to be able to walk the halls indoors, but only at the middle school (5-7 pm) and high school (5-9 pm).
- Building security upgrades will be completed to the front entrances of the high school and Holum Education Center.
What else is happening...
Along with the visible changes above, many more things will be going on behind the scenes to continually improve the safety of our students and staff, as well as prepare for potential crisis situations, such as:
- Training for staff in mental health issues, first aid/CPR/AED.
- Drills and tabletop simulations for staff and students.
- Internal building security updates.
- Improved communications systems.
Watch for more information at registration and in fall communications.
|
Sign up for text messaging at registration
 If you've had a student absent from DAHS or a low lunch balance recently, you may have had a phone call from our new SchoolMessenger service. This new service offers us additional options for communicating with our families. This service is not intended to replace our existing means of communication-rather it will enhance them. In the fall, we'd like to add another feature of the program: text messages or SMS. The service is provided by SchoolMessenger. Information can be found at www.SchoolMessenger.com. Since text messaging may mean additional charges, we'll be asking families to opt in at registration in August. The opt-in process is simple and only takes a few seconds to complete: - Text any one of the following words to the number 68453: subscribe, optin, yes
- You'll know you were successful if you receive the following reply message: "You are registered to receive approx 3 msgs/mo. Txt STOP to quit, HELP for help."
- Repeat the opt-in process for any wireless numbers that you wish to include.
- We'll ask you to provide (and/or update) wireless numbers for Skyward.
The district will only use the service to provide information that is timely and relevant. Currently, we plan to use text messaging for special emergency or safety notices, district closings/delays (usually weather related), and athletic & activity game/practice cancellations/changes (HS/MS athletes only).
|
|
|
Stay connected with DASD
 Facebook pages
 DASD News Blog
 YouTube channel
|
|
(page 7)
Upcoming events in the Madison area p. 7
Norski Nibbles Lunch program for students during the summer
Community Blood Drive
Monday, June 10
1-6 pm
Comfort Inn & Suites
Appointment
Mark your calendar!
2013-14 Registration for all DASD students
August 7, 8 and 12
8:00 am - 7:00 pm
DeForest Area High School
More at:
Check out these
DASD website links:
|
|
| Thank you! |
Click here to download a PDF version of this DASD News issue (and previously versions). |
| Contact Information |
Please contact me if you have any questions or if I can assist you in any way . . .
Debbie Brewster, School/Community Relations Coordinator
|
|
|
|
|
