Dear Mitchell Staff, School Improvement Team, PTO, and Parents,
Over the last two years Mitchell has been labeled as a "Focus" school by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE).
In case you don't remember, Focus Schools consist of the ten percent of schools on the Michigan Top-to-Bottom school rankings list with the largest achievement gaps between its top 30 percent of students and its bottom 30 percent, based on average MEAP test scores…in a nutshell. This is an important indicator because it is indicative of the achievement gap a school is experiencing…..and reducing this gap is the mark of many effective teaching practices and is a clear requirement of the flexibility waiver MDE has received around meeting the requirements of No Child Left Behind.
THE EXCITING NEWS: Based on the growth scores Mitchell students have shown on the MEAP test, Mitchell School has been removed from the Focus School list for the upcoming school year! We are no longer one of the schools showing the largest gap.
This is an important step in our school improvement journey at Mitchell, and it is indicative of the hard work students, teachers and parents have been doing to improve student achievement using the goals outlined in our school improvement plan. A chart showing the current status of schools is linked here: http://media.mlive.com/annarbornews_impact/photo/081314-scorecard-aapsjpg-ff4318841fab0e95.jpg
Not being labeled a Focus School, along with the growth we've seen in cohorts of students moving through Mitchell, are two leading indicators of the improvement being seen at Mtichell School.
That being said, we certainly recognize there is work still to be done. Our plans moving forward include continuing to implement the set of research based teaching strategies we've outlined in our school improvement plan as well as beginning to implement these same strategies as part of the inquiry based teaching model associated with our three-year transition to becoming an International Baccalaureate World School.
The full mlive.com article connected with the chart I linked above is here:
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/08/ann_arbor_area_school_report_c.html#incart_m-rpt-2 One question I anticipate is connected to the top to bottom ranking for Mitchell School this year as I'm noticing a lower score in this ranking. I am investigating this and will share more later about the formula used to arrive at that number and how the formula was similar or different from the formula used in other years.
If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
Kevin
