S c h o o l D i S t r i c t r e v i e w

Chisago LakesA tradition of excellence.

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www.chisagolakes.k12.mn.us

Chisago Lakes Area SchoolsISD#2144

13750 Lake Blvd.Lindstrom, MN 55045

Tel. 651-213-2000

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage Permit No. 37

Lindstrom, MN 55045

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LEEA Award Winners

Each year member districts of the Educational Cooperative in our region, Resource Training and Solutions – St. Cloud, have the opportunity to nominate educators who distinguish themselves among their peers for the professionalism and dedication to their students. These teachers are then recognized at an awards banquet involving the many member schools from across the region.

Congratulations to the following staff members who were nominated for the Resource Training and Solution’s LEEA (Leadership in Educational Excellence Awards) Ceremony:Primary School – Art Underhill; Lakeside – Krista Overgaard; Middle School – Becky Burr; High School – Bridget Budig.

The awards ceremony was held in St. Cloud on the evening of October 26, 2011. Congratulations from everyone at Chisago Lakes and thanks for all you do for your students and your school!

Becky Burr, Bridget Budig, Art Underhill, Krista Overgaard, Supt. Mike McLoughlin

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The school year is nearly a third of the way completed and we are bracing for the colder months of winter. Our students and staff have been hard at work and we have received great results in the area of student’s standardized testing. All of our schools and programs have been cited as making Adequate Yearly Progress or AYP as it is known in the nomenclature of the No Child Left Behind federal legislation.

While our efforts have always been aimed at improving, it is a good thing to receive statewide recognition for a job well done! Congratulations to our staff, students, and families for your efforts in this regard.

We will soon be dealing with snow, wind chill factors and possible school closings due to emergency weather. It is worth reminding everyone that school is closed for weather emergencies when it is deemed that school busses cannot travel safely on the highways of the county. There is no “cold weather temperature” threshold that closes schools. It usually takes a significant amount of snow or other weather event such as ice accumulation or heavy drifting to close schools. We try to make the announcement to close school before 5:30 a.m. but that is not always possible. It is also good to remember that conditions can vary greatly in different locations in the school district. Another possibility could be the need to close school early, once students are already in the building, if weather conditions deteriorate during the school day. Parents should discuss this possibility with their student and have plans decided upon should this need arise.

Parents are always the best judge if they believe their student may be involved in a dangerous weather situation in the morning and are asked to make decisions based on their best judgment. We do the best we can in regard to operating school during winter weather events, but sometimes things are not perfect for everyone involved. Your understanding and patience with the district regarding emergency school closings this winter is most appreciated. We will always try to make the safest decision for our students and staff.

Hopefully parents have started their Schoolview accounts with their respective schools and are able to log in and access student grades and information. Please contact your student’s school if you have questions in this regard.

As we approach the holiday season I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone in our school community a peaceful and restful holiday season. It seems that through November and December the pace picks up significantly for family obligations. Hopefully you will find the time to enjoy our school vacations and spend time with your family. Thanks again for your support of Chisago Lakes Schools. Please contact me if I may be of assistance.

Letter from the Superintendent:

Announcements for school cancellation or late start will be made on WCCO radio AM 830, Channel 4 TV, Channel 5 TV, Channel 9 TV and Channel 11 TV.

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Outdoor Classroom Becomes a Reality:

What’s new at Taylors Falls Elementary? Well, have you seen the new outdoor classroom that was recently constructed outside the new classroom addition? The gazebo-like classroom was the brainchild of teacher Laura Greene. With the help of many parents, the PTO, lots of donations of time and treasure, and through the leadership of Principal Joe Thimm, the classroom is now ready for use by TF students.

Many classes have taken advantage of the outdoor setting and Mother Nature has certainly helped with unseasonably warm autumn weather, just right for lots of outdoor meetings and class assignments. Thanks to everyone who made this great idea a reality!

Meet Your Board Members – Alli Mohr - School Board Student Representative

Congratulations to Alli Mohr, a senior at Chisago Lakes High School, who has been selected to serve a one year term as the Student Representative to the Chisago Lakes School Board. This is the first year that the school board has chosen to have a student representative present at the table for school board proceedings. Alli hopes to keep her classmates at the high school informed of school board topics and decisions and hopes to serve as a resource to the Board regarding student opinions and ideas.

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Bryant Environmental Center

Many people do not realize that the Chisago Lakes School District owns and manages its own small environmental center just to the west of the city of Taylors Falls. The Bryant Environmental Center property was originally owned by the Taylors Falls school district prior to consolidation with the Chisago Lakes Schools nearly 20 years ago.

Recently, efforts have been made to improve the Bryant’s walking trails and bridges. This past July, a group from Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa, a part of the Americorp program, worked to improve access, remove undesirable plants and to make Bryant more enjoyable for visitors. The crew consisted of two crew leaders, one from Oregon and one from Minnesota and six crew members ranging in age from 15 through 18 from Burnsville, St. Paul, Maplewood and Woodbury. There are 86 total crew positions in Minnesota and over 400 applicants each year. The students from St. Paul receive a science credit since there is one hour of science study each day.

School field trips are taken to Bryant for nature field study and other science lessons. The High School Ag classes have visited the site and worked on improving the trails in prior years. Parking at Bryant is available right off Furuby Road (Highway 20). Bryant is open to the public for hiking and for enjoying the outdoors.

See the map below for more specific directions:

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Bryant Environmental Center

Conservation Corp leaders and crew members worked at Bryant Center for a week in July. Crew members came from Silverton, OR., Rochester, Burnsville, St. Paul, Maplewood, and Woodbury.

Two Conservation Corp crew members work to clear a trail at Bryant.

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After a delayed release of data due to the government shut down, MDE released the results of the state assessments. Teachers and administrators at Chisago Lakes Public Schools waited with anticipation this fall to find out if all the hard work and planning had paid off - especially in the area of math - where there had been a steady stream of planning and focus over the last three years to align courses to the new math standards. “The results of our math assessments exceeded our expectations!” remarked Jodi Otte, Principal of Chisago Lakes Middle School. “We knew we had put a lot of work into realigning our courses so that students would be proficient in Algebra I by eighth grade, but we didn’t expect to see this significant of a result.” The process began during the 2007-2008 school year with teachers looking at the newly released math standards. Teachers quickly identified that the standards were more difficult and instruction had to increase in rigor in order to have students be proficient in Algebra I by eighth grade. Previously, Algebra I was taught in ninth grade. The high school math standards were also significantly more difficult and, at the time, tied to a graduation diploma. We knew we had to work backwards from high school and the 8th grade Algebra I standards in order to prepare students properly.

Turning to the math teachers for their input and suggestions, a plan evolved that included more focused instruction, realignment of math materials and lessons so there was more depth. At the high school, math became the building goal. Principal Dave Ertl reports that collectively his staff have embedded math instruction and math application across all content levels. “PE teachers, Ag teachers, social studies teachers… are all making math real and applicable for kids. This has been a collective effort.”

Students in grades 3-8 took the MCA III exam for the first time in 2011. The MCA III is based upon the new standards and was significantly more difficult. Sixty-nine percent of students enrolled in grades 3-8 demonstrate proficiency on the revised math standards compared to the state average of 57.7%.

Students in grade 11 still took the MCAII/GRAD assessment and 62% were proficient on the first attempt. The MCA II/GRAD is the hardest exam to pass in the state, with only 48% of the state passing the exam on the first attempt. The district is very proud of these results since this is a 19% increase from 2010.

The district monitors math instruction and progress through a variety of other assessments. NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is a computer adaptive assessment that is given to all students grades 2-10 in math to monitor learning. Students receive an overall score called a RIT (Raush Index) and four substrand scores in math to help plan instruction. Fall to spring growth is measured and compared to the national average of 50% of the kids meeting their growth goal. Chisago Lakes students exceed this national average by 10 to 25% points, depending upon the grade level. “The percentage of students making their growth goal is a good indicator for us since it tells us who is learning - high, average or low students. We allocate time and resources so that all groups of students are learning,” reports Lolene Borsheim, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. “We have great systems in place to respond to the data once we identify if a student may be struggling. Building structures and systems like these do not happen overnight - something Chisago Lakes Public Schools should be proud of.”

District Math Scores Soar!

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80% 83%88% 88%

81%

66% 69% 67%63%

20% 17%12% 12%

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Percent of Students Meeting MAP Math Growth Targets, by GradeChisago Lakes School District2010-2011 (NWEA 2008 National Norms)

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76%

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Percent of Students Meeting MAP ReadingGrowth Targets, by GradeChisago Lakes School District2010-2011 (NWEA 2008 National Norms)

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