Weighing the Hogs

You may remember from my College Go Week story (on the intercom last week) that I got my bachelor's and master's degrees from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Iowa State is known for veterinary science, engineering, agriculture, and education... just like Purdue is in the state of Indiana.

I fondly recall a statistics class in my masters program. The professor shared tons of examples that related to agriculture and there is one that makes me smile. Weighing the hogs doesn't make them fatter.

Well, hogs, it's time to weigh you again. Acuity starts this week.  

I certainly don't mean to offend. You aren't hogs (although I've heard that some of you snort when you eat!) The comment is an analogy regarding our standardized testing program and my personal frustrations with it.

Let's take Language Arts. In LA class, you take three Star Reading Tests. You take three Acuity Predictive Tests. You take three sessions of the ISTEP+ test. You also do four local quarterly writing assessments.  In 180 days, you take 13 tests. You are weighed 13 times.  We give up 7% of your class periods to take tests to determine your general progress. This doesn't include any class periods to take tests over your actual class content. Whew. 

Math comes right behind with 9 tests. Science and Social Studies have standardized tests, too. Yes, hogs, we are weighing and weighing and weighing.

I would bet that our agriculture community would agree. It's not weighing that makes a hog fatter. It's what you do with the hog between weighings. It's not testing you that makes you a better learner. It's what we do together between tests.

So, now that I've bashed the excessiveness of our state testing system... here is what I need from you. I need you to do your absolute BEST effort every time on every test. That may sound backward but here is why I ask this from you.  The testing data helps us make decisions on instruction. Accurate decisions need accurate data. Overtesting is not good. But overtesting and getting lazy/inaccurate data is worse!

SMS, good luck on your tests. Go 'hog wild' with your effort. Let's show them that we're fatter... I mean smarter!

I Say Yes!

I prepared a list of explanations. Not excuses, mind you, but explanations as to why our ISTEP+ scores were low. First, we embarked on a massive transformation into the digital realm. Never before had there been such wholescale change in our school for ALL kids and ALL teachers in ALL grades. Second, the ISTEP+ system was glitchy and we had kids that were bumped out of the tests. You might recall the hubbub last year as CTB/McGraw Hill had underestimated it's ability to handle the huge volume of test takers on it's servers. And of course, we always have the Lexington Academy handicap. The residential school in Lexington had 9 middle school students that took the ISTEP and their scores go on our school totals even though they don't attend here. These scores tend to be low (and they were).

Here's the funny part. When I opened the school reports and started looking at area schools, I quickly realized that I should push aside those explanations and look for different ones... about why we CRUSHED IT on the test!

Congratulations, SMS students and staff! Your ISTEP+ scores were awesome! Here are two bits of data that put our performance in perspective.

Area School	Percent Pass          Both LA and Math	Percent Change from 2011-2012
Silver Creek	71.89	-5.11
Salem	71.28	+3.26
Scottsburg	69.71	+3.1
Henryville	67.78	no test in 11-12
Jennings County	67.43	+11.12
Madison	62.3	-4.3
Seymour	60.49	-3.33
Austin	59.5	+0.7
Southwestern	56.9	no score report 11-12
Hoosier Virtual Academy	44.79	-3.32

Well, well! When comparing SMS to the other schools that residents can drive to, we must be doing something right. The state of Indiana average growth for middle schools was +1.1. SMS grew +3.1. Our combined pass rate of 69.61 is the best we have EVER had. 

This happened in a massive change. In a difficult time. And BTW, if we took out the failures of the Lexington Academy students, we'd have been 1.2% higher... like a 71.2%.

I am so very proud of our school. And I am so humbled. This incredible performance is due to the hard work and dedication of so many. 

Is the iPad sometimes frustrating? Is Study Island hard? Is digital math practice a big challenge (since you can't just guess wrong and hand it in?) Do some lessons FLOP when we try new tools to expand student thinking?

Does our new learning environment appear to be working? 

I SAY YES!

Words to Live By

I got a chance to attend a technology meeting at Center Grove last week. I was struck by a graphic on the wall in hallway. It was so cool I took a picture.

Give More, Expect Less

Hope More, Fear Less

Dream More, Doubt Less

Laugh More, Complain Less

Listen More, Talk Less

Love More, Argue Less

I am setting a personal goal to do these things this week. Will you join me? What would our school week look like, sound like, feel like if we all committed to this? Who's in?

Have a great week. Learn something. Encourage someone.

Hats and Hearts at SMS

Thanks to all of the SMS students and staff that participated in Hats on for Hearts Day on Friday. We had a wonderful display of hats... and hearts! Thanks to those that sported fishing caps, furry hats, and no hats (but decided to donate anyway!)

We collected $310 and our awesome SMS Student Council is going to MATCH that amount so we are sending $620 to the American Heart Association via Mr. Eldon Cutter. Mr. Cutter is going to participate in his second annual Heart Walk this Saturday and he'll turn in our big donation at that time.

For those of you that are new to our school, there is a pretty amazing story about Mr. Cutter's interest in the Heart Walk...

On May 9, 2012, during REACH (our homeroom), I had symptoms of an oncoming heart attack. I identified those symptoms by comparing them with the SMS Life Science lessons I taught on Cardiovascular Systems and Health and confirming those symptoms with a former student's poster the I left on my classroom wall. I was taken to the ER at Scott Memorial Hospital. EKGs, Stress Tests, and a Heart Catheterization led me to a Coronary Triple By-Pass Surgery at Columbus Regional Hospital on June 12, 2012. 


The American Heart Association supports great medical advancements made in heart medicine.  My cardiac blockages and aneurysm (rupture would be instant death) were diagnosed before a heart attack occurred.  For me, these medical advancements resulted in successful surgery, very little pain, and being released from the hospital 3 days after surgery.  

Thanks for your support via the SMS Student Council Hat Day fund raiser.  I plan to walk on Saturday on behalf of my students, co-workers, family, friends, and others who are heart disease survivors or victims. 

Check out my AMA Heart Walk web page if you want to learn more. Also, I'm inviting anyone who wants to join me for the AHA Heart Walk which is held on Saturday, September 14, 2013 at the Ivy Tech Community College, Columbus, Indiana. Pre-Walk Activities begins at 8:00 am and the Opening Ceremonies at 9:00 am. Thank you!

Go, Mr. Cutter, Go! Have a great walk. Our HEARTS are behind you every step of the way!