Since I arrived at Mitchell almost two years ago, I have often noticed the excellence of our school: great kids who like being at school, hard working and talented teachers, families who work hard to help their children.
I have also noticed how all of our hard work during these two years (students, teachers, and families) has helped us to show significant achievement gains. These gains are indications of the excellence of Mitchell School, and they are reflected in the following statistics:
- From September to March of this school year, 90% of Mitchell students had made a full year or more of growth in reading based on at least one assessment (classroom benchmark, NWEA, and/or MEAP). That’s right, in seven months the majority of students made a full year of growth in reading. We anticipate that all students will reach this mark by the end of the year or they will have a personal learning plan in place to guide their maximum learning path.
- At the beginning of this school year, no first graders were reading more than one year above grade level expectations. By the end of the year, 10% of students were reading more than one year above expectations.
- In our 5th grade class this year 30% of the students were reading more than a year above fifth grade expectations. That means 30% are reading at sixth grade level or above!
- Our school improvement reading goal this year is that 79% of our students will be reading at the grade level target at the end of this school year based on the Ann Arbor Benchmark Reading Assessment. While I won’t know whether or not we will have accomplished this until after report cards are turned in and analyzed, I know we’re going to be close.
