School Absenteeism Letters – We are at our Goal!
We will be sending out chronic absenteeism letters this week for students who have missed 10% or more of school days so far this year. Since we just passed the 140th day, it will be for students who have missed 15 or more school days. As of this past Friday, we have 6.0% of students at the chronically absent level. Last year we ended the year with 6.6% of students at this level. 6.0% is our goal for the end of the year as a school, so let’s keep up the good work! Since we have 182 school days in the year, once a student is absent 19 or more times, they are chronically absent for the year. Here is the Attendance Policy Handbook with more information (page 4 has a nice summary). Thank you for your efforts in making sure our students are here for instruction as consistently as possible.
SBA Schedule: Starting after April Break
When we come back from April break, the window for the Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA) opens. These are the assessments used by the state of Connecticut as a measure for how schools are performing. The assessments are for students in grades 3-8 and focus on English Language Arts (ELA) and Math. Below shows our schedule for the testing weeks of each grade level. It is imperative that students charge their Chromebooks each night when it is their weeks to test. Please help remind your child to plug them in each night. We also ask that you encourage your child to get a good night of sleep and a solid breakfast on testing days. Here is the schedule:
- Week of 4/22 – Grade 4 and Grade 5 ELA
- Week of 4/29- Grade 3 ELA
- Week of 5/6 – Grade 3 Math and start Grade 4 Math
- Week of 5/13 – Grade 5 Math and finish Grade 4 Math
- Week of 5/20 – Grade 5 NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)
Break wishes
Next week, 4/15-4/19, we have our April Break. I hope you have a wonderful time during these five days. I am heading to Dublin over the break for my cousin’s wedding. He happens to be marrying a woman from Dublin, so it will be a great opportunity to meet some people near our new home.
Have a great break,
David
