Letter: Accountable to be Exceptional

We will improve the Guidance office services, first step will be to improve structured planning for 9th to 11th grade students because waiting until 11th grade can be too late. We will also look to provide more services for our seniors and help more actively with the application process, including essay review. Understanding where our kids get accepted and what we can do to improve their chances, we will bring in the decision makers from local and not so local colleges and talk to them about acceptance criteria, especially that which is beyond test scores. We will also look more closely at the remediation rate of Radnor students, how many of our graduates have to take remedial classes, before taking freshman year courses, especially in the area of math. Radnor has talked about dual enrollment and leveraging relationships with local universities for more than 10 years, we will drag it over the finish line and put into place a process by which motivated Radnor students are encouraged to take classes at local universities in senior year. This will not only prepare them better for freshman year away from home but will give them credit towards graduation.

Though the items listed above focus on the high school student, we recognize the need to re-evaluate the programs at the elementary and middle school as well. The District needs a forward thinking plan for the use of technology in the classroom. Online text books and virtual learning have demonstrated success and can be a more efficient use of time.

Our team understands that increased accountability throughout our District will lead to better results. We recognize that these initiatives represent necessary change to the status quo so that our District can embrace the challenge of improving upon our educational excellence.

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State assessment scores earn Basehor-Linwood most Standard of Excellence honors ever

The Kansas Department of Education announced the Standard of Excellence awards as part of its 2011 Kansas Report Card this week.

Though Basehor-Linwood has shown improvement on state assessments and on ACT scores, it took a big tumble in another component of the state’s report card: graduation rate.

The district’s graduation rate for 2010 tumbled to 72.9 percent under a federally mandated new formula, after the previous year’s rate under the old formula came to 98 percent.

District officials said the number confirmed fears that the new rate formula would hit the district especially hard because of its virtual school.

“When you see something like that, you know that something’s not fitting together,” Boyd said.

The change in Basehor-Linwood’s graduation rate dwarfed the decline in the statewide rate that occurred under the new formula. The Kansas rate fell to 80.7 percent under the new formula, from 89.1 percent for 2009.

In July, the Sentinel reported on Basehor-Linwood Virtual School administrators’ concerns that the new graduation rate formula would sink the district’s rate, largely because of the home-schoolers and other non-traditional students who often enroll in virtual classes. The new rate tracks individual students and measures how many graduate within four years, and students who transfer to become home-schooled or who take longer than four years to graduate can count as “non-graduates.”

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Dickinson County school districts get good news on head count Read more: Abilene Reflector-Chronicle – Dickinson County school districts get good news on head count

The district’s Virtual School also reports an enrollment of 28 students and the Parents as Teachers Program has 98 students.

Chapman

Enrollment increased at all but two attendance centers in the Chapman School District and gave U.S. 473 a surge in its K-12 student population.

As of Sept. 20, enrollment was at 1,073 students. The district’s enrollment to finish the school year on May 26 was 984. The enrollment count includes kindergarten students.

U.S.D. 473 superintendent Lacee Sell said the growth was exciting to see.

“This growth speaks volumes of what all of our schools have to offer,” Sell said. “We have great things going on in all classrooms and buildings and thankfully families want their children to take part here.

“Probably the most impressive note about our increased enrollment is that it is occurring district-wide. While we all appreciate and are grateful of the new schools, all schools are gaining students and this is a fantastic achievement for both our district and the entire school community.”

Here is the breakdown and comparison by attendance center: Blue Ridge, 77 on Sept. 20, and 69 on May 26; Enterprise Elementary School, 103 on Sept. 20, and 83 on May 26; Chapman Middle School, 257 on Sept. 20, and 232 on May 26; Chapman High School, 340 on Sept. 20, and 298 on May 26.

Two other attendance centers held steady. Chapman Elementary School had 257 students on Sept. 20 compared to May 26 when 261 students were enrolled. Rural Center School had 39 students on Sept. 20 compared to 41 on May 26.

Solomon

U.S.D. 393 had higher enrollment numbers than originally projected, but they were still slightly less than last year.

There are a total of 354 students enrolled at Solomon this year with 172 students in elementary and 182 in middle and high school.

“We do have large numbers [of children] in the Solomon Community Preschool, so the future outlook is bright,” school superintendent Jim Runge said. “Families continue to move to our district because of the outstanding educational opportunities from preschool through Cloud Community College outreach campus – a full pre-kindergarten through community college experience.”

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Dickinson County school districts get good news on head count

Shafer said the district experienced a higher than expected enrollment of kindergarten students at Kennedy Elementary School and fifth grade students at Garfield Elementary School.

A preliminary count shows 500 students at Abilene High School, 386 at Abilene Middle School, 400 students at Kennedy Elementary, 233 students at McKinley Elementary has 233 and 252 students at Garfield Elementary.

The district’s Virtual School also reports an enrollment of 28 students and the Parents as Teachers Program has 98 students.

Read more: Abilene Reflector-Chronicle – Dickinson County school districts get good news on head count

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Teen Excels in School Thanks to Online Classes

A Kansas City, Kan. teen says she was bullied and harassed so much that she was about to drop out of school. She didn’t have to thanks to a program that is letting her finish her education at home. She can now complete her classes through an online high school.

Lura Matthues says there were days the bullying and harassment was so intense she would call her mom to come get her. She ended up failing the 10th grade. Now she is back on track. Instead of going to school, Mattuhes just boots up her computer and starts here Lawrence Virtual School that offers K-12 online coursework.

“I have one teacher that calls me almost every day to make sure I’m on track,” Matthues said.

Matthues fell behind at JC Harmon High school after girls were bullying her.

“The girl and her sister started picking on me,” she said. “Her sister got up in my face at school and I was almost in tears.”

She says it felt like no one in the school could help her.

“I went  to the principal and things cooled down for a couple days but then started back up,” she said.

Matthues stepdad says the online school has made a huge difference.

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More Students Choosing Virtual School Programs

Enrollment is increasing for virtual schools across Kansas and new programs are giving more options for students and parents.

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Lawrence school district reports boost in unofficial enrollment numbers

As of Tuesday, during the first full week of the 2011-12 school year, the district reported having 11,250 students in kindergarten through 12th grades. The totals include students from throughout Kansas attending the Lawrence Virtual School.

The district’s unofficial enrollment total is up by 526 students, or 4.9 percent, from the comparable date for 2010-11, an academic year that had started with 81 fewer students than the previous year.

If the increase holds up — districts report their official headcounts Sept. 20 to the Kansas State Department of Education — the district would receive more money from the state, as calculated using a statewide financing formula.

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State releases AYP results

Locally, the Leavenworth and Lansing school districts were listed as not meeting AYP requirements for the 2010-2011 testing cycle. Lansing Elementary School, Tonganoxie Elementary School and Pleasant Ridge Middle School were all listed as not meeting AYP requirements as individual buildings.

Leavenworth Associate Superintendent Eric Punswick said Leavenworth High School and the Leavenworth Virtual School made AYP, though the district as a whole fell short. The other schools in the district were not required to make AYP because of a change in school configurations as a result of a bond issue.

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Virtual school enrollment running high

The Kansas Online Learning Program sponsored by Centre USD 397 is attracting many applicants in its second year of operation.

Virtual school coordinator Vickie Jirak reported to the board of education Monday that 76 enrollment forms are on file and 10 more have been sent out. An additional two enrollment forms were received Monday.

Jirak said the goal is to enroll 100 students. Enrollees include adults seeking a high school diploma and several international students.

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Virtual Schools, E-Learning, Sweep The States

The number of online high schools across the country continues to grow with virtual schools now operating in 12 states and five other states working on similar projects, according to Education Week’s annual School Technology Report.

The editors of the fifth edition of Technology Counts 2002: E-Defining Education, praised the growth in online classrooms, but warned that the quality of such programs must be monitored.

“E-learning is poking holes in the walls of the traditional American classroom and giving students unprecedented access to challenging course and academic material,” says Virginia B. Edwards, the editor and publisher of Education Week. “But there are still problems and unanswered questions about this way of teaching and learning. And one of the chief concerns is ensuring the quality of online courses.”

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