House Passes HB70 to Address Supplemental Service to Schools - During Tuesday’s session, the House passed HB70 (Brenner-Driehaus) by a vote of 92-6 and HB123 (G. Johnson-Cupp), 96-1. Rep. Denise Driehaus (D-Cincinnati) said the HB70 allows any Ohio school to work with parents and community members to provide supplemental services such as health care, tutoring, recreation and mental health services. She said it is based on Cincinnati's Community Learning Centers (CLCs).
"To make sure our children succeed, we must address the academic and non-academic needs of students and families," Driehaus said. "Through developing local partnerships and gathering community input, the CLC model allows schools to transform their buildings beyond their traditional purpose to become a true focal point for the community."
Hannah News Service
PARCC to Consolidate, Shorten Assessments - The governing board for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), which developed Ohio's new English and math assessments, voted this week to cut about an hour and a half worth of testing next year and consolidate test administration into a single window.
Ohio lawmakers have been urging such changes, including through recommendations of the Senate Advisory Committee on Testing.
State Superintendent Richard Ross is a member of the PARCC board.
This year's tests were administered in two segments, a performance-based assessment in the winter, and end-of-year assessment in the spring. Next year, PARCC will offer the assessment in a single window, starting roughly 75 percent of the way through the academic year. Ohio teachers have pushed for tests to be pushed as far back in the school year as possible to allow more time for instruction ahead of the tests.
PARCC says the changes adopted Wednesday will also shorten English assessments by 30 minutes and math assessments by 60 minutes. In addition, the board voted to create more uniformity in the time for each testing unit and reduce the number of units by two or three for all students.
"The changes will improve and simplify test administration for schools, teachers and students, without diminishing the goal of the assessment -- to ensure every student in every school is being taught what they need to know in order to be successful in the next school year and, ultimately, in college or career," PARCC said in a statement on its website.
PARCC officials had told the Senate testing committee in April that the board was likely to consider such changes. At that same meeting, officials from AIR, which provides Ohio's science and social studies assessments, said they're ready to make a similar switch at Ohio officials' request.
The final recommendations of the Senate committee said Ohio should find new test vendors if PARCC and AIR can't shorten testing time and meet other conditions set out in its report.
Hannah News Service
Committee Recommends Greater Weight for Achievement, Progress in A-F Report Cards - The State Board of Education's Accountability Committee voted Thursday to recommend a framework for calculating the overall grade schools will get on the A-F report card to place greater emphasis on achievement and progress measures.
Following the 2015-2016 academic year, schools will receive their first-ever composite grade on the A-F system. Composite grades will be derived by combining grades on six component measures: achievement; progress; gap closing; prepared for success; graduation; and K-3 literacy.
The committee took the recommendation Ohio Department of Education (ODE) staff in voting to make the achievement and progress measures account for 20 percent apiece in the overall calculation. The other measures would account for 15 percent apiece.
Chris Woolard, who's been leading ODE's efforts on developing the report card, said he recommended the greater weights for the achievement and progress measures because they're based on the performance of larger groups of students. Graduation rates and the prepared for success measures, which look at students' college and career readiness, would be driven essentially by the performance of one grade level, he said.
The committee discussed but did not recommend two other options: weighting all components equally at 16.7 percent apiece; or giving prepared for success a 20 percent weight as well, leaving gap closing, K-3 literacy and graduation measures at 13.3 percent apiece.
Board members Michael Collins and Ron Rudduck warned their colleagues that they'll need to think through how calculation of the new composite grade will be explained to schools and the public. Rudduck noted a sample district presented by Woolard showed a district with five A grades and one C grade in the components earning an overall B grade, saying that could cause confusion. Woolard explained the grades are based on a point system that allow variable values within each grade, so a district might earn a high A in one component and a low A elsewhere.
The full board is expected to take up the recommendation at its meeting June 8-9.
Hannah News Service
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL
AdvancED Accreditation Membership Renewal - After an extensive 72-hour evaluation, beginning last Wednesday and lasting into each evening through Friday, the AdvancED Accreditation External Review Team identified HTHS as a Nationally ReAccredited High School.
AdvancED is the largest community of education professionals in the world. The company is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that conducts rigorous, on-site external reviews of PreK-12 schools and school systems to ensure that all learners realize their full potential. While their expertise is grounded in more than a hundred years of work in school accreditation, AdvancED is far from a typical accrediting agency. Their goal isn’t to certify that schools are good enough. Rather, their commitment is to help schools improve.
Combining the knowledge and expertise of a research institute, the skills of a management consulting firm and the passion of a grassroots movement for educational change, AdvancED serves as a trusted partner to 32,000 schools and school systems—employing more than four million educators and enrolling more than 20 million students—across the United States and 70 other nations. AdvancED was created through a 2006 merger of the PreK-12 divisions of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI)—and expanded through the addition of the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) in 2011.
The External Review Team evaluated the teaching and learning at HTHS on student performance results; instructional quality; learner and family engagement; support services for student learning; curriculum quality and efficacy; and college and career readiness data. The lead evaluator shared the overall results with HTHS and explained how HTHS significantly scored higher on every indicator across the entire AdvancED Network.
A special THANK YOU goes out to all students, parents, teachers, and stakeholders who took part in this exciting opportunity, especially Mr. Michael Morbitzer for leading and submitting all necessary reports.
HTRs Go The Distance - For the ninth year in a row, the Hamilton Township Rangers won the Komen Columbus Race for the Cure School Team Challenge. The Rangers registered 410 people for the race and more than 200 students volunteered early Saturday morning, escorting breast cancer Survivors at the Survivor Ceremony. The Rangers were also featured live on WBNS 10TV Saturday morning to get the city of Columbus excited for the Race for the Cure.
HAMILTON MIDDLE SCHOOL
Soaring to Great Heights - In the annual paper airplane contest the 7th grade math students made paper airplanes and flew them in a contest to see who could go the farthest and stay in the air the longest. After all the flights were complete the students had to use the data to find measures of center as well as create stem and leaf and box and whisker plots to show trends in the data. Students also got prizes for the most creative planes. Congrats to all the winners!
Classified Employee of the Quarter - Head Evening Custodian, Kim Boggs, was chosen as the Classified Employee of the Quarter for Hamilton Middle School. Mrs. Boggs goes out of her way to ensure the cleanliness of her area and strives to make the entire building the best it can be! We are thrilled to honor her with this award!
HAMILTON INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL
Mrs. Pond Was Nominated As Ohio Lottery’s May Teacher Of The Month - I nominate Mrs. Pond as a Star Teacher for the month of May. Mrs. Pond works hard to provide a calm and comforting place for her students to learn. Many students like her warm demeanor and think of her as a trusted adult in the building. Mrs. Pond also provides an engaging learning environment. She led the 5th grade reading teachers through the completion of a new novel this year: Because of Mr. Terupt. She even organized a Skype call with the author, Rob Buyea. Mrs. Pond truly cares for both her students’ educational and emotional needs, and that makes her a STAR Teacher! - H.I.S. Staff Member
Angie Kirk Was Nominated Ohio Lottery’s May Support Staff Member Of The Month - I would like to nominate Angie Kirk as our May Support Staff Star. When faced with the challenges of our Intermediate office, Angie meets them head on with a passion and commitment to get the job done well. Angie is always working to prioritize her tasks to make sure our office is running smoothly and efficiently. She is enthusiastic and supportive of students, staff, and the community. It is a pleasure to have Angie as my co-worker! - H.I.S. Staff Member
Thomas Woltz Was Nominated Ohio Lottery’s May Student Of The Month - Thomas works very hard, on a daily basis, to achieve the highest levels of success in each of his classes. His friendly personality, work ethic, and excellent attendance all make it possible for Thomas to be successful at everything he attempts. Despite his visual limitations, Thomas functions independently and is an excellent advocate for himself within the classroom when it comes to his vision needs. Thomas recently received a CCTV Magnifier to use in each of his classrooms. The CCTV allows him to see objects both near and far with much more clarity and expands his level of independence within the school environment. The device helps Thomas to show his best work and abilities. I firmly believe that Thomas will continue to excel as he transitions to the 5th grade as well as throughout his academic career. Thomas is a true example of a person who does not let his disability define him, nor what he is capable of achieving! - H.I.S. Teacher
HAMILTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
2nd Grade Spelling Bee - As one of the many special year-end events, second-graders had the opportunity to participate in the fourth annual 2nd grade Spelling Bee. Even though these students are young, this was far from an easy competition. Words for the Spelling Bee were selected from “Fry's First 900 Words,” which are lists of the most commonly used words in reading and writing. All students participated in the first round, which took place in individual classrooms. From there, the three top spellers from each class competed against the other classrooms in their house. Next, the top five spellers from each house went onto the last round where their families were invited to watch the final spell-off! Some of the words the spellers had to take on were scientists, especially, Europe, determine, equation, industry, conditions, and actually. In the end, our 2nd grade Spelling Bee overall winner was Nathan Tyler from Mrs. Case’s class, with Sammy Mullett-Miller from Mrs. Miller's class earning the 2nd Place Ribbon and Rae Schneider from Mrs. Lust's class earning the 3rd Place Ribbon. The other seven finalists were Lindsay Bright, Alex Haughn, Landen McCain, Ethan Moore, Kyren Sheppard, Dominic Stewart and Madison Vanblarcume. Congratulations to all our participants!
Third-Grade Moving On Celebration - The Hamilton Elementary PTO sponsored an event to celebrate the success of our third graders and their exciting transition to the Intermediate School. Students enjoyed a picnic lunch and several outdoor activities. The entire HES staff is proud of our third graders and knows that they will do an excellent job at the Intermediate School.
Support Staff Member of the Quarter – Guidance Counselor, Collett Hayes, was selected as the HES outstanding support staff member for the 4th quarter of the year. The anonymous staff member who nominated Ms. Hayes had this to say, "I would like to nominate Collett Hayes as support staff member of the quarter. If you are an elementary parent or staff member an appropriate nomination for this recognition would be ‘Collett Hayes, enough said!'" For those who do not know Collett it would be impossible to quantify all that she does for the staff and student at HES. She is a tremendous resource who excels at providing both academic and emotional interventions for students who are having a difficult time. Teachers routinely ask her to observe a student in their class and make suggestions. She also organizes standardized testing for the building and coordinates a variety of community services for students such as free eyeglasses, dental exams and many other community-based resources. Collett is simply irreplaceable.” Congratulations to Ms. Hayes!
HES Psychologist Receives Scholarship - Mrs. Payne applied for, and was awarded, a teacher training scholarship from the Children’s Dyslexia Center of Columbus to receive training in Orton-Gillingham reading instruction. The program consists of training curriculum that is Orton-Gillingham based and will provide Mrs. Payne the ability to provide multisensory, structured language education to individuals with dyslexia and other related reading disorders. The program is a nine-month commitment. In exchange for the training, Mrs. Payne will tutor two students at the center twice a week. After completing the program, Mrs. Payne will be uniquely qualified to provide high-quality recommendations regarding reading interventions, reading instruction, and remediation in reading to teachers and parents for students experiencing significant reading difficulties. This will benefit all students at Hamilton Elementary, but especially our students in the Response to Intervention (RtI) process, students on reading improvement plans, and current special education students.
HAMILTON PRESCHOOL
Classified Preschool Staff Member of the Month: Mrs. Michele Moore - Michele has worked at the Preschool for the past six years and has been our artistic leader for bulletin boards and the showcase. Michele is wonderful to work with she always offers to help with special projects in all the classrooms. Michele is willing to lend a helping hand and really cares about her students. Michele works closely with Mrs. Yates in the all day classroom. We are truly lucky to have Michele in our building!
DEPARTMENT OF ATHLETICS
Boys’ and Girls’ Track and Field Finish 3rd at MSL Meet - The Varsity Boys’ and Girls’ Track and Field team finished 3rd last week at the MSL meet hosted at Teays Valley High School. The team will be competing this week at Hilliard Darby at the OHSAA Division I Central District Track and Field Meet. Listed below are the MSL Honors earned by our athletes for their performances:
All-MSL 1st Team
Boys
- 200m - Thomas Wilson (Senior)
- 4x400m Relay - Thomas Wilson (Senior), Wesley Payne (Junior), Khari Berger (Junior), and Trey Johnson Jr. (Sophomore)
Girls
- 100m - McKenzie Long (Freshman)
- 200m - Aaliyah Solis (Sophomore)
- 100m Hurdles - Zadei Edwards (Senior)
- 4x100m Relay - Shanell Hayes (Sophomore), Jazlyn Simon (Freshman), Zadei Edwards, and McKenzie Long
- 4x200m Relay - Hayes, Solis, Edwards, and Andrea Thompson (Freshman)
All-MSL 2nd Team
Boys
- Shot put and Discus - Aaron Johnson (Senior)
- 100m - Khari Berger
- 300m Hurdles - Jacob Maynard (Sophomore)
Girls
- Long Jump - Jazlyn Simon
- 100m - Aaliyah Solis
All-MSL Honorable Mention
Boys
- 100m - Thomas Wilson
- 110m Hurdles - Xavier Harris (Senior)
- 4x100m Relay - Jacob Maynard, Wesley Payne, Xavier Harris and Trey Johnson
- 4x200m Relay - Khari Berger, Wesley Payne, Xavier Harris, and Trey Johnson
Girls
UPCOMING EVENTS
See what’s happening in our district this week!
Remember to “Like” us on Facebook & “Follow” us on Twitter.