October 23, 2017 The Week Ahead

October 23, 2017

Dear Silver Hill Families,

Tomorrow night the Silver Hill Horace Mann Charter School Foundation invites you to their  “Innovation Conversation” at 6:00 in the cafeteria. The Silver Hill Foundation is a separate non-profit organization from the School. This is an opportunity to receive information regarding what an Innovation School is, and how this could apply to Silver Hill in the future.  The intent of the Foundation is to bring together interested parents/guardians for an initial conversation with Silver Hill faculty regarding an Innovation School as a possible option for the school going forward.

Congratulations to all of our 4th and 5th grade runners who participated in the cross country meet! It was a beautiful day and everyone came across the finish line with a smile on their face. It showed the great spirit of our Jaguars! Special thanks to Coaches Sanchez and Herbert! The coaches have sent home an invitation to the x-country students for a special Cross Country Breakfast Celebration this Thursday, October 26, from 8:30 – 9:00am in our cafeteria.

MCAS 2.0 results have been released to the public. In grades K-8 no accountability levels will be reported unless the participation rate dropped below 90%.  MCAS 2.0 is being called the “Reset” assessment, with the results of 2017 MCAS used as a “baseline” for setting accountability levels.

  • SHHMCS remains on the same accountability level/system as last year, Level 1.
  • It is expected that since the State “raised the bar” that students will score lower in Achievement with fewer students Exceeding.  Only 50% of the State Met or Exceeded the standards.

Overall, I am pleased with our Student Growth Percentage (SGP). We saw significant increases in our growth in grade 4 and with our Special Education population. The State sets a benchmark of 50% growth and the following are comparisons released by the Department of Education for grades 4 and 5 in Silver Hill and Haverhill elementary schools.

Grade 4

English Language Arts:

Silver Hill – 59%

Haverhill – 46%

Math:

Silver Hill – 50%

Haverhill – 46%

Grade 5:

English Language Arts:

Silver Hill – 37%

Haverhill – 36%

Math:

Silver Hill – 43%

Haverhill – 37%

We celebrate the hard work of our students and staff, and families who support learning at home! We know we still have work to do, and teachers are already meeting in Curriculum Committees to analyze the data by subgroups to determine what programs and instructional strategies are the most effective to teach ALL of our students. Individual student reports are expected to be sent to schools within the next two weeks, and will then be mailed home. I am tentatively planning the November 15th Coffee with the Principal as an overview of the MCAS 2.0 Next Generation, and will present an information night including overall data and will answer any specific questions you may have. The Coffee flyer will be coming home next week. You can access all Massachusetts schools’ data by going tohttps://profiles.doe.mass.edu/statereport/nextgenmcas.aspx and choosing 10/18/17   2017 Next Generation MCAS Achievement Results;  “Report Type”-School; “School Type”: Elementary

Enjoy this last full week of October!

Margaret

Planning Ahead:

10-24 – Grade 3 – Matt Noyes Weather Warrior

10-28 – Trick or Treating in Haverhill – 5:00

11-5 – Daylight Savings

11-7 – Election Day – Professional development

11-10 – No School- Veteran’s Day

11-22 – Early Release – Thanksgiving

11-23 – Happy Thanksgiving