December 2018
It is not too early to start thinking about exams.
Good afternoon, Parents.
As we are in the preparation process for our fall semester exams, I thought it may be a good time to remind everyone of the reasons we re-established a formal semester exam schedule and process. For a few years now, we have been surveying recent graduates and asking them how prepared they were for their first year out of high school. A consistent and relatively strong theme in the responses from both college and technical college students was that they did not feel at all prepared for the demands of exams because we did not have exams in high school. In response to this feedback over a couple of years, we re-instituted fall semester exams last year.
From a learning perspective, we also feel having cumulative exams that review the central learning standards from the whole semester for each class is quite valuable because the process allows students to review, re-practice, and re-apply all of the concepts they learned to that point in the school year. The exam process is not just a testing schedule, but it also includes a couple of lessons of review where the teacher guides the review process of the most important concepts taught in the first half of the school year. The exam itself offers another opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning in the most important areas of the curriculum.
While I will provide more details about the exam schedule after winter break, I thought parents may appreciate having the exam schedule (included in the email message) well in advance. Honestly, I think it is unlikely that many of our students will do much studying during winter break, but I would encourage parents to discuss with their students the importance of beginning their review studying shortly after we start back in school after the holidays because the exam days themselves are very demanding. Preparing in advance is one of the key strategies students have to learn with any exam schedule.
Again, I will share more specific details after break, and we will teach all of our students how this process works in detail. If you have any questions about the exam schedule and process, please do not hesitate to call me at 920-564-2346 x 4001.
Have a wonderful holiday season,Scott
Armed Intruder Drill
Good Afternoon Parents/Guardians,
As we continue to learn about school safety and provide our students and staff with the latest information in best practices related to this topic, I wanted to let you know in advance that next week we will be having our first Armed Intruder Drill at the middle school. During our in-service time prior to the school year, we were trained as a staff by the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department on multiple crisis response scenarios. Our next step in preparing for these sorts of situations will be to first teach students about some response options, and then run a basic lock down drill. In future drills, we will very likely practice other response options, such as rapid evacuation and barricading, that will depend on the threat, location, and other varying circumstances.
Along with our belief that involving students in drills that prepare for these sorts of situations is critical so that our response can be as efficient and effective as possible, these drills are also specifically required by Act 143. In every case where we run a drill in response to an Armed Intruder or Active Shooter, we will make it perfectly clear that it is a drill situation and not a real threat. At this particular point in the process, we will first carefully plan each of our responses in a meeting with our staff, and then we will teach the responses in detail to our students in the classroom before actively practicing the drill itself.
Although the likelihood of something happening at OMS is small, we do need to be prepared and learn from the drills so our children are as safe as possible. If you have any questions or concerns about these sorts of crisis response drills, please feel free to call me at (920) 564-2383 x4218 to discuss the matter.
Thank you and have a great weekend,
Sherri Stengel
Part of our Mission: Learning at High Levels
Greetings!
We are excited to share that Oostburg School District has been named to the College Board’s 9th Annual AP® District Honor Roll. The Honor Roll recognized 373 school districts in the U.S. and Canada that have increased access to AP coursework while maintaining or increasing the percentage of students earning scores of 3 or higher on AP Exams.
Oostburg is one of only 22 Wisconsin schools and the only school in the area to earn this honor. Our mission is to ensure all students learn at high levels so they can become positive and productive contributors to society and the world. Increasing our Advanced Placement offerings is one part of our “high levels of learning” focus. It is not unusual for students who choose to continue their education after high school to leave OHS with more than 20 college credits. That level of achievement while in high school allows our students to leave well-prepared for what comes next. It brings the added benefit of substantial savings in post secondary education costs and time do degree completion.
Our students also recently completed their winter ACT assessment. Our district goals are are college and career readiness focused as measured by the ACT. Our district academic goal this year is a composite average of 23.8, and we are pleased to share that we are on track to meet or exceed that goal at this point in the year. Should student growth continue on the current trajectory Oostburg would likely be in the top 5% of all Wisconsin schools as measured by the ACT.
We believe the ACT provides a strong measure of student learning while realizing that fulfilling our mission includes so much more. At the same time we are receiving these concrete indicators of our academic rigor and achievement, we are also seeing an increase in participation in areas like forensics, middle school music, ROV team, student job shadowing, apprenticeships, and service hours. Lots of good stuff happening through the hard work of our staff, students and community.
Enjoy this day!
Kevin Bruggink
#BoostTheOost
https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/…/aw…/district-honor-roll
Empty Bowls
Relax with a bowl of soup before the OHS Christmas Concert on Monday, December 17. The Nutrition class has prepared several homemade seasonal favorites. Art students have created ceramic bowls to be auctioned during this annual event as well. All proceeds will benefit the United Way of Sheboygan County.