5/3/10

May Principal's Corner

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you – John 14:27

Dear Parents/Guardians,

There have been many years that I have thought, “Will May ever get here?” However, this year I am saying, “I can’t believe May is already here”. This school year has flown, and it has been a good one. Thank you for all of your support—without it we could not be as successful.

Speaking of successful, we received our scores from the various tests. You will be receiving your child’s/children’s results in their report cards. However, I do want to share some of the data and brag about your children and our teachers. In February we administered the TCAP (State of Tennessee) Writing Assessment to the 5th and 8th grade students. The scoring on this assessment is from 1-6. 1=deficient; 2=flawed; 3=limited; 4=proficient; 5=strong; and 6=outstanding. This is our second year for taking this test. We had no 1’s or 2’s; we had one 3 in fifth grade. All other students scored 4, 5, or 6. In 5th grade we had 20% of the students score a 6; 32% score a 5, and 44% score a 4. In 8th grade we had 17.6% score a 6, 46.4% score a 5, and 35.7% score a 4.

In March our 5th and 8th grade students took the National Catholic Education Association’s religion test. This is the third year for us to take this. The national average for the 5th grade composite score is 71%, and ours was 81%. We had 29.2% score in the advanced whereas the national average is 14.1%. For the 8th grade the national average is again 71%. Our students ranked 85%. We had 44.8% of our 8th graders place in the advance category while the national average is 16.7%.

Also in March, our 1st through 8th graders took the IOWA Test of Basic Skills. This year the test was an updated one with new norms. We were nervous because we knew that the scores would be lower than previous years due to these new norms. We received the data, and sure enough our percentiles were lower than we hoped. However, after further analysis, we discovered that although the percentiles were lower, our grade equivalencies were still above average and very good. We now know that the scoring bar has been set higher, and we must work to meet those expectations—we are up to the challenge. The composite grade equivalency scores are: 1st grade-2.3; 2nd grade-3.1; 3rd grade-4.5; 4th grade-6.1; 5th grade 7.6; 6th grade-8.9; 7th grade-9.8; 8th grade-13+. I will publish the individual skills grades at a later date.

There are transition meetings going on. Parents are being invited to level meetings in which their students will be next school year in order to become acquainted with the teachers and the expected program. These meetings are very informative and are in place to make the parents feel more comfortable for the coming year. The teachers will also do something similar with the students.

Upcoming events:
  • We begin May with the 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C. Please pray for safety and good weather for us.
  • May 13th the 4th grade will be going to Nashville.
  • May 17th is the Kindergarten Celebration.May 17th is the 8th grade awards day luncheon.
  • May 18th is the 8th grade exit mass and celebration.
  • May 21st is the 7th grade Growing in Grace Celebration.
  • May 25th is the last day of school and our Field Day.

We have a lot of projects planned during the summer. If you are available to help with any of these, we would love it. There will be work on the Nature Place (outdoor classroom), working on the grounds, painting and cleaning the rooms/buildings, etc. Notices will be sent out.

With your child’s/children’s report cards you will get information on summer reading and the supply lists. Continue to check our website and Fanfares for other information.

Again, thank you for all your support this school year. It has been a great one, and I am looking forward to next school year.

God Bless,

Jeri McInturff