To give you a little background, MEAP tests were first administered during the 1969-70 school year for the purpose of determining, at various points in a student’s career, their progress compared to standards set by the State Board of Education.  These standards still exist and are evaluated yearly to see where schools and districts stack up against the rest of the state.  The tests assess students’ progress toward the achievement of the prior school year’s Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs).

MEAP tests are developed in order to meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. Michigan specific legislation is addressed as tests are developed and results are reported to schools.  The tests provide a common denominator within the state to measure how students are achieving on the same skills and knowledge. These tests have shown to be sound, reliable, and valid measures of academic achievement.

1. Evaluate how students’ achievement has improved over time.
2. Assess how policy and curriculum changes affect student learning.
3. Target students for unique learning opportunities or special help.

Federal law, No Child Left Behind, requires testing in reading and mathematics (3rd – 8th grades) each year.  In Michigan, science (5th and 8th grades), social studies (6th and 9th grades), and writing (4th and 7th grades) are assessed every three years.  MEAP test results are reported at different levels and are intended for different audiences.  In December, results will be shared with teachers so planning for student instruction can proceed.

New this year is that the State Board of Education (SBE) has approved a proposal to realign test cut scores to ensure that all Michigan students are career- and college-ready. Results of the cut score study will be reported to the SBE in September. The new cut scores were established to ensure parents, students, and teachers are well informed about where students stand in terms of achieving success at the next level (the next grade, college, or technical career training). The new cut scores are being implemented now because students have had the full benefit of the rigorous Michigan Merit Curriculum for high school graduation and the updated Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs).

New cut scores were established for grades 3-8 in mathematics and reading, grades 5 and 8 for science, grades 6 and 9 for social studies. Cut scores for the Michigan Merit Exam (grade 11) were changed in mathematics, reading, science, and social studies as well. Writing cut-scores were not changed because the new MEAP writing cut scores established in February 2011 were determined to represent on-track to career and college readiness and the MME writing cut score is already similar to the ACT writing college-ready benchmark.

The recommendations of new cut scores were established through an intensive collaborative research study conducted by ACT, the National Center for Educational Achievement (NCEA) and the BAA Measurement Research and Psychometric unit with significant contributions from the BAA Technical Advisory Committee, Michigan’s institutes of higher education, and others. The cut scores were officially established in September 2011 when the State Board of Education adopted the new cut score recommendations.

The bottom line for parents is that the new cut scores represent student achievement relative to being on-track to career- and college-readiness, whereas the previous cut scores represented a more basic level of achievement needed for the old manufacturing economy.  As a result, the cut scores recently adopted by the MDE are noticeably higher than the previous ones, and parents will notice that next year their student’s scores will reflect this change.

Certainly, as the new scores are higher than the previously established performance standards, we expect to see a significant drop in state-wide proficiency rates.  This will result in lower proficiency rates at the local level as well.  The Michigan Department of Education has applied to the United States Department of Education for a waiver from the 100% student proficiency target.  Parents should take these test results in stride.  These tests are on a much more advanced level than the level currently used by our staff, but we’re confident, as the years go on, our students will be proficient in the subjects they are being tested on.

As always, I remind you that the mission of the district is to “provide a supportive and challenging learning environment where every student is prepared to succeed in a global community”.  Changes to these test scores will be difficult for students and parents at first, but as a district we will make every effort to ensure our students succeed.

Dr. Tina Kerr is the Superintendent of Coldwater Community Schools and can be reached by email at tkerr@coldwaterschools.org or by calling 517-279-5910. The main website for Coldwater Community Schools can be found at http://www.coldwaterschools.org

As the students entered their school last week, there were noticeable renovations at almost every school, due to the residents of Coldwater passing the Sinking Fund Millage last May. Legg Middle School received the largest renovation over the summer, including a new design for the hallway and lockers which have not been updated since the 1970’s.  Other projects at the middle school include repainting, handicap accessible bathrooms, new boiler, and carpet replacement; finally, the gym has been painted and floor refinished. Other schools received interior and exterior paint and new carpet.  We are grateful to the community for seeing the need to keep our school buildings safe and secure for the kids in our district.

All of these changes dramatically affect the way that our children learn. Although they seem minor, even things like paint color and room temperature make a difference in the learning process and we’re excited for you to see the much needed improvements.  Over the next several years, we have a plan in place to continue to remodel and make repairs to buildings with the money obtained from the Sinking Fund.  To see photos of the improvements, go to the Coldwater Community Schools Facebook page at www.facebook.com/coldwaterschools.

Also new this year to district students, because of grade leveling, is the addition of new electives for students, including foreign language for all students beginning in kindergarten. We have also added band for our fifth grade students at Lakeland. We are offering Spanish as our foreign language option. Students will be able to take this class throughout the school year. This is in addition to the other electives offered in the past: physical education, art, media technology, and music.

The grade-leveling format allows for advanced classes to be offered in fourth and fifth grade.  There will also be an emphasized focus on math and science for these grades, which is becoming necessary in our ever changing world.  I continue to feel confident about the impact the grade-leveling will have on our district, including increased test scores, smaller classrooms, and the sharing of resources among teachers.

As always, I remind you that the mission of the district is to “provide a supportive and challenging learning environment where every student is prepared to succeed in a global community”.  With changes to our curriculum and to our buildings, we are making improvements for the future of our community.

Dr. Tina Kerr is the Superintendent of Coldwater Community Schools and can be reached by email at tkerr@coldwaterschools.org or by calling 517-279-5910. The main website for Coldwater Community Schools can be found at http://www.coldwaterschools.org

Also, this year brings new programs to the district for parents and students. In addition to the four-year-old program that the district currently offers, we are opening a new class this year for three-year-olds at Lincoln Elementary School. This program is a fun, activity-based learning environment with a morning session and the possibility of an afternoon session. To make it convenient for parents, bussing is also available for Coldwater residents. We’re also proud to have certified teachers in Early Childhood Education teaching this program. They are energized and ready to teach our youngest school community members.

Another new program is our before- and after-school care Latchkey Program for students who are in young five’s to fifth grade. This program, Kids Club!, is also located at Lincoln Elementary School. Parents can choose between care before school, after school or both with bussing provided to or from the school the child attends. Students will continue to learn with hands-on, fun activities to best accommodate parents schedules. The morning session starts at 6am, and the afternoon session ends at 6:30pm. More information can be found on the district website, or by calling 279-5910 before August 19th and 279-5975 on and after August 19th.

Both of these programs strive to promote educationally-based programming that encourages physical exercise, creativity, and social interaction. With grade-leveling changes for students in buildings, we think these new programs will help parents and students transition into a great school year. On that same note, thank you to parents, staff, and students for making adjustments in schedules, schools, and classrooms in order to make sure our students receive the best education possible. I continue to feel confident about the impact the grade-leveling will have on our district – including, but not limited to, improved test scores, smaller classrooms, and the sharing of resources among teachers.

The mission of the district is to “provide a supportive and challenging learning environment where every student is prepared to succeed in a global community”. I feel inspired by the start of a new school year, knowing how the changes and additions to our district will have a positive impact on our community and help our students far into their adulthood.

In the coming weeks, please remember that my office door is open, and I invite you to call me or set up an appointment with me if you have questions or concerns about the upcoming school year. I will also continue to write this monthly column for the Daily Reporter and our blog as an overall district-wide update concerning the education of our students.

Dr. Tina Kerr is the Superintendent of Coldwater Community Schools and can be reached by email at tkerr@coldwaterschools.org or by calling 517-279-5910.  The Coldwater Community Schools website can be found at www.coldwaterschools.org

The Kids Club is designed for children from young-fives through 5^th grade who are enrolled in one of the district’s elementary schools.  The program will be staffed by qualified individuals who have experience and training in childhood development.  We will provide two sessions to accommodate parents who go to work early or have to stay at work late.  The morning session will be from 6am till the start of school, and the afternoon session will start immediately following the dismissal of school till 6:30pm.

Transportation from Lincoln School to the child’s elementary building in the morning, and from their school to the Kids Club in the afternoon will be provided.  Kids Club will also be open after school on early release days with a cost of $2.50 per hour.

Cost for the Kids Club is a one-time registration fee of $25 per child.  This fee will help finance this self-funding program to provide snacks and activity materials.  Pre-payment for the program is required and payment is based on the number of hours the child attends the program.  The cost ranges from $12.50 for up to 5 hours a week, to $62.50 for up to 25 hours a week.

Again, this is an exciting and new program that has never been provided to students at Coldwater Community Schools and during a tough economic time, we’re pleased that we can offer this option to help those parents who need to go to work early or stay late.  We hope that you and your family will take advantage of the Kids Club!

For more information about the program, please call 279-5910 ext. 246 or go to the district’s website www.coldwaterschools.org or www.facebook.com/coldwaterschools.

Dr. Tina Kerr is the Superintendent of Coldwater Community Schools and can be reached by email at tkerr@coldwaterschools.org or by calling 517-279-5910.  The Coldwater Community Schools website can be found at www.coldwaterschools.org

A statewide survey of 600 likely voters finds that Michigan voters strongly support protecting K-12 school funding and oppose efforts by Gov. Snyder to raid the School Aid Fund. In fact, voters indicated that K-12 school funding is the top funding priority for the state and is far more important than cutting taxes for businesses and corporations. “The proposal to cut schools doesn’t reflect the wishes of the people of Michigan,” said SOS Co-Chair Peter Spadafore. “Legislators should be aware that more than 40 percent of voters said they’d be less likely to vote for someone who is in favor of cuts to K-12 schools.”

Key findings from the survey include:

• More than two-thirds (67 percent) of respondents said education is the state’s top one or two services to protect, while 52 percent cited it as their top priority.
• A majority of voters think K-12 education funding should be increased.
• Eighty-eight percent of Michigan voters oppose cutting funding for K-12 schools.
• Voters aren’t convinced by the argument that Michigan’s constitution allows for the use of School Aid Funds to pay for higher education or that the “surplus” in the School Aid Fund should be used to close the General Fund deficit.

The proposal to cut schools is clearly out of step with Michigan voters. Their sentiments do not align with the governor’s proposal to cut funding by $470 per student and transfer $900 million to community colleges and universities.

“These responses show that Michigan voters have confidence that investing in education is the path to true reinvention of our state,” said Spadafore.

Michigan has yet to recover from this economic downturn, causing Governor Snyder and the Michigan Legislature to seriously consider shifting $900 million that was previously dedicated to K-12 schools (by approval of a statewide ballot issue for K-12 schools in 1994 known as Proposal A) in order to support community colleges and universities. In addition to this funding shift, the Governor’s education budget will decrease $340 per pupil, or $1,058,000 in funding for Coldwater Community Schools. The Governor’s plan also does not take into consideration the state-mandated retirement system increase, which will cost $176 per pupil or the equivalent of $546,174 in funding for Coldwater Community Schools. All of these reductions, totaling in excess of $1,604,174, will have a significant impact on delivering educational services to the students of Coldwater.

We have made some tough and sometimes unpopular decisions to reduce our budget the past several years. We have privatized food services and custodial operations that resulted in an annual savings in excess of $450,000. We have hired employees through a third-party contract in order to save $39,000 by not paying benefits. We have also changed our self-funded insurance plan by increasing employee contributions, thereby saving the district $80,000 per year.

Should the above mentioned recommendations (shifting K-12 funding to support colleges and universities) from the Governor be adopted, Coldwater Community Schools will have to make deeper unprecedented cuts. I am very concerned that we can make the required cuts and still maintain our current level of services to students. Therefore, I hope that you take the time to analyze all aspects of the Governor’s plan and determine the impact it will have on you and your child’s education. Contact information for our governor, state senator, and state representative can be found here.

Thank you for your continued support of the Coldwater Community Schools.

Sincerely,
Dr. Tina Kerr, Superintendent

We have all heard the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child,” and that has never been a truer statement than it is today! Thanks to the support of the community of Coldwater, our School District will be able to address our facility needs for the next ten years. Your vote to renew the sinking fund will now bring almost $8 million dollars in needed improvements to Coldwater Community Schools. Now, all of our facilities will be inviting and safe for enhanced student learning.

As we put your dollars to work, we will be providing updates on our website so you can see the impact your vote has had on our district improvements. On behalf of the Board of Education, our staff, and myself, thank you for your support of Coldwater Community Schools! Together, we will continue to move Coldwater Community Schools from good to GREAT!

Sincerely,

Dr. Tina Kerr
Superintendent
Coldwater Community Schools

This is to let you know that the 2011-12 school year beginning and ending times for all Coldwater Schools will remain the same as this school year.

We will be continuing our study regarding this possibility in the future.

With the move to grade leveling for the Coldwater Community Schools in the 2011-2012 school year, a change of start times for the students of the school district could potentially come.  I think it’s important to remind parents and students that although we’ve made some significant changes, the changes are following the district’s mission of “providing a supportive and challenging learning environment where every student is prepared to succeed in a global community”.

In order to accommodate students and parents and to make busing as smooth as possible, elementary students potentially could start the new school year with an earlier start time.  Both high school and middle school start times could then be pushed back, and those students would start a little later than the elementary students.  More information will be published soon on the Coldwater Community Schools website regarding exact start times.

The decision to possibly change start times is based on a variety of reasons.  One of them includes research that indicates the natural tendencies of adolescents is to stay up later and wake up later in the morning, which makes learning difficult the earlier the school bell rings.  We want the school schedule to be conducive to learning, and I believe this change will affect the way our teenagers in the school system learn.

Although change is never easy, we’re keeping the best interest of the students in mind.  If you have questions or would like more information about this, I’m holding a Parent Advisory Council (PAC) meeting on Tuesday, April 19, from 6-7pm at Legg Middle School.  As always, my office door is always open, and I invite you to call me or set up an appointment with me if you choose.

In addition to keeping the community updated, we have some new technology updates including a new Facebook page for the school district.  Feel free to follow our posts here.  I have also set up a Superintendent’s Blog on the Coldwater Community Schools website.  I invite you to comment or provide any input on either of these methods of communication.  I care about the children in our community and look forward to building bridges of continuous communication for parents and students.

Dr. Tina Kerr is the Superintendent of Coldwater Community Schools and can be reached by email at tkerr@coldwaterschools.org or by calling 517-279-5910. The main website for Coldwater Community Schools can be found at http://www.coldwaterschools.org

By this time, most of the community has heard about the possibility of Grade Leveling within the Coldwater Community Schools.  I’m writing this column, which will appear regularly in the Daily Reporter, to help answer some questions about this topic and other topics concerning the students in our school district.  If there is a certain area of interest you’d like me to cover in this column, feel free to email me or call me.  In the meantime, I’ll plan to provide current information on initiatives and recognize the accomplishments of our teaching staff and students.

If you’re not familiar with what Grade Leveling is, it’s a process where students in the district are arranged by grades per school, in this case the elementary schools.  So instead of each elementary housing kindergarten through 5^th grades, each school would be a set grade level. The initiative that I’ve proposed to the Board, educators, and parents is a program where students will get a better education due to smaller class size, more options for accelerated learning programs, foreign language options for elementary school students, more support for English as a Second Language (ESL) program, latch-key program and much more.  Community members can find the slideshow I’ve shown at Parent Advisory Council meetings at each of the schools right here.

This change for Grade Leveling is coming about due to the fact that students are currently leaving the district due to large class sizes, as well as other issues which the Grade Leveling will assist with.  With the ESL students in one building, special education classes condensed, and the ability to share resources and personnel for Jefferson, Max Larsen, and Lakeland Schools, we think this plan will benefit all students and increase test scores of our students.

At this time, most busing issues have been arranged to best suit all students, so no one is on the bus longer than one hour.  Also, all teaching staff has requested what school or grade they would like to teach, and we’re doing our best to accommodate each and every request.  Although this issue will affect everyone who has a child in out school district, I hope you will see the added benefits and remember that the mission of the school district is to provide a supportive and challenging learning environment where every student is prepared to succeed in a global community.

If you have additional questions, I invite you to call me or set up an appointment. I care deeply about the children in our district and look forward to being a part of this community for years to come.

Dr. Tina Kerr is the Superintendent of Coldwater Community Schools and can be reached by email at tkerr@coldwaterschools.org or by calling 517-279-5910. The main website for Coldwater Community Schools can be found at http://www.coldwaterschools.org