Summer Fun (and learning...)

Watching my son sprint today to his classroom at The Works Museum in Edina reminded me that just because it's "summer vacation" doesn't mean learning can't occur.  So far this summer, Samuel has made himself into a warrior (complete with warrior paint on his forehead), researched dinosaurs on the internet, is learning to add and subtract, and is reading independently up a storm!  Pretty hard books for an incoming kindergartner, with words I never knew he could figure out!  Today at The Works, he made a battery-powered boat and a really cool and crazy car.  He is figuring out circuits and power sources, and is trying to understand weather patterns.  We went to Barnes and Noble, where he promptly told me he had to go straight to the science section, because "Mom, I love science!"
He is like the characters in his favorite show.  (Yes, his favorite show is "Phineas and Ferb", and yes, he tries to make every day a great day [he has even said that to me before].  Personally, I like Phineas and Ferb, too.  Any show that has a duck-billed platypus as a secret agent is okay in my book.)  Samuel and I read every single day - we take turns... I read, he reads.  He does some math every single day, and we catch ourselves doing math when not really doing math.  Learning is happening all around, and I truly believe that environment of continual learning, even "on vacation", will only help him as he begins his formal schooling.  School isn't just nine months a year, in a contained classroom in a certain building.  If we do it right, our children will find that the world is one big, exciting, challenging and rewarding school.

Harriet Bishop Scores Even Higher!

Harriet Bishop students, parents, and staff have a lot for which to be proud. Recent preliminary MCA-II scores released by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) indicate 87% of our students are proficient in math and 83% in reading, tops in the District 191, and higher than most other schools in the area. and But that’s not the whole story.

Math

Last year, Harriet Bishop switched our instructional model in mathematics. Students throughout the school were engaged in mathematics instruction at the same time. We pre-assessed our students before every math unit and flexibly grouped students based on their levels of readiness. This approach helped us to maximize our support staff and encouraged team teaching and collaboration amongst our staff. Harriet Bishop saw an overall proficiency increase of 4% in math. In addition, almost all of our measurable subgroups saw the same increase or better, with a whopping 27% increase in proficiency for our Free or Reduced Lunch Population (FRP) of students!

Reading

Harriet Bishop teachers have begun to implement the Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading framework (SEM-R). SEM-R teachers integrate strategies instruction with book hooks to create interest in books and boost motivation to read. They also use student independent reading time to meet individually with students to provide additional instruction in strategy use as well as higher-order questions to challenge and engage readers. This approach helped us encourage students to pursue challenging independent reading in texts they choose and improved reading fluency and comprehension. Harriet Bishop saw an overall proficiency increase of 1% in reading. In addition, almost all of our measurable subgroups saw the same increase or better, with an impressive 19% increase in proficiency for both our Hispanic and Black populations and an 18% increase in proficiency for our FRP students.

Instructional Changes, Research, and Becoming a Magnet School

To see an INCREASE in student achievement is remarkable in the first year of a major change. There is much research that suggests that when a major organization goes through a major change, as Harriet Bishop did in becoming a Gifted and Talented magnet school, a dip in productivity, such as student test scores, is likely. Changes disrupt equilibrium. People find themselves less confident in the new versus the established. New knowledge, skills, and instructional practices take time and often come with hiccups that need to be addressed and adjusted. It is for these reasons that we have always said it will take us three to five years to develop into a successful magnet and fully realize the educational effects of our changes. However, to see the effects of our instructional changes across all subgroups and disciplines after the first year is truly rewarding. Imagine the possibilities and the future!