Ely Capacity Concerns

Ely Elementary has been experiencing positive enrollment growth over the past few years. Please take a few minutes to hear how growth has created space challenges at Ely Elementary.

Urgency and innovation

Our school district was invited to take part in an innovation academy led by Dr. Scott McLeod. Dr. McLeod has led several innovation academies across the country. Members from our school district will take part in seven days of training over the course of this school year. The goal is to explore innovative practices, examine current practices, and reimagine them. I came away with many questions and a sense of urgency. The challenge is how quickly are we able to lead this type of change within a school district? Like most districts, we do not have a lack of things to do. Our teachers are working extremely hard and are engaged in all types of change initiatives. The type of change described by Dr. McLeod requires us to redesign professional learning for teachers. Our current school schedule/structure is a barrier to adult learning. Teachers speed from class to class with one period dedicated to preparation. At the end of the day their plate is full and learning something new is often put on the back burner. Learning Forward provides schools with some recommendations in regard to the amount of time needed for professional learning.

Learning Forward has recommended that professional learning occur “several times per week among established teams of teachers, principals, and other instructional staff members where the teams of educators engage in a continuous cycle of improvement” (NSDC, 2009, p. 2).

Does your school have this amount of time set aside for adult learning? Unfortunately, in most schools adult learning takes a backseat due to the school schedule/structure. Along with adult learning, McLeod challenged us to think about student engagement levels, higher order thinking, and 21st century skills.

Engagement vs. compliance

Students are engaged when they are able to work on problems that are important to them and their community. Engaging classrooms are less teacher centered and more student centered. Are our students engaged or are they compliant? There is a definite difference. Do lessons include a real world impacts? Are they displayed or presented publicly? Are they engaged in the learning process? To what level are students involved in the decision making process?

Higher order thinking

Higher order thinking is extremely important to our student’s future success. They will need to be able to think for themselves. Deeper learning schools are moving away from low level thinking tasks like factual recall and procedural regurgitation. They are more focused on the 4 C’s (Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration) when designing instructional programming. We should all reflect deeply on this quote, what percentage of our students think this way?

When we teach in "mother robin" fashion — trying to mentally chew up everything for our students so we can put it into their intellectual beaks to swallow — students tend to become, if I can slightly mix my metaphor, "Polly parrot" learners: 

"I can't understand anything unless you tell me exactly how and what to say and think. I need you to figure out everything for me. I shouldn't have to do more than repeat what you or the textbook say." - Foundation for Critical Thinking

Content vs. Skills

Deeper learning schools are less focused on content and more focused on the skills needed to navigate complex content. According to McLeod, “innovative schools are moving from isolated, siloed academic work to environments that provide students more opportunities to engage with and contribute to relevant local, national, and international interdisciplinary communities.”

Relevancy

This really all comes down to relevance. How will we (public education) remain relevant? There are many choices for parents and students these days. These choices will only get better and more appealing for parents and students. How will we reimagine and redesign our educational systems to fit our students?

Find a few minutes to watch this video.

Check out What School Could Be by Ted Dintersmith.

Parent Advisory Meeting Agenda

Consequences don't motivate challenging students.

I have given my fair share of consequences to students as an educator over the past 14 years. Rarely, have these been effective at changing the behavior of our most challenging students. Most students with challenging behaviors have been challenging throughout their entire school experience, and yet we continue to impose consequences without teaching them the skills to not be challenging.

A consequence is a common method used to control student behavior. When a student does something that is undesirable, we often let them know through a consequence that the behavior was inappropriate. Consequences work for most kids in school, because most kids have the skills to do well. If our philosophy is, “kids do well if they want to,” then when a kid doesn’t do well, we believe he or she doesn’t want to. Adults often think this is a motivation issue for challenging kids and we need to make the kid want to do well. Consequences rarely motivate challenging students.

As you read this, you might be thinking if we don’t hold challenging students accountable, then how will we prepare them for the real world? I would argue that we aren’t preparing them for the real world if a consequence is our only method to teach them how to behave. We have to teach them the skills to handle different situations and manage their emotions in a productive way. This involves collaborative problem solving between the adult and student. It doesn’t involve imposing adult will, because this is usually ineffective when dealing with challenging students. Kids do well if they can. A kid will do well if he or she has the skills to do well. I am not suggesting that we get rid of consequences, because they have their place in schools. I am merely suggesting that we teach challenging students (a small percentage of the student population) the skills to do well. Using only consequences will not prepare them for their future. We need to identify when challenging behavior typically occurs, what skills are they missing, and teach them the skills that are needed to be successful.

Differentiation is a successful means of reaching a student’s academic needs, why not differentiate based on a student’s behavioral needs as well?

I recommend Lost at School by Ross Greene if you are interested in approaching behavior differently in your school and classroom.

You should read: The Book Whisperer

According to a recent poll by the Associated Press, the average adult read four books in a year. One quarter of those surveyed did not read a book at all. This is a concerning statistic to me. How can we promote literacy to our youth if we are not reading ourselves?

Why are adults not reading more?

Unfortunately, many of the causes may occur at a very early age. We set the stage for a lifelong reader as soon as they exit the womb. Reading to them as an infant through preschool is important to their literacy development. Children begin to develop early language and literacy skills long before they begin talking.

As children get older and enter our formalized school systems, how do we (educators, parents, and support staff) encourage or hinder the development of a lifelong reader? Donalyn Miller, a former classroom literacy teacher and author, recommends embracing reading as a lifelong pursuit and not just a collection of skills for school performance (2009). Take a minute and reflect on how often your child reads for enjoyment. Is their reading only associated with school tasks? This is something we as parents and educators need to reflect on. Reading shouldn’t only be something children do for school, a student’s motivation to read should go beyond school tasks.

We know that interest level is very important for all ages of readers. I think we have all picked up a book at some point in our life and struggled through it, or even quit reading it. Interest level is a touchy subject and challenging to implement. There are literary works that many educators would say are extremely important for all kids to read. The challenge is that not all kids are motivated to read the required text. If students are only reading the classics, then they may never have the opportunity to investigate their own reading interests, and therefore never develop into the reader they could have been.

“Reading has become schoolwork, not an activity in which students willingly engage outside of school” (Miller, 2009, p. 121). 

Miller (2009) recommends schools provide time for independent reading within the classroom and that we should allow students free choice over what they want to read. Whole-class novels take considerable instructional time and no one text can meet the needs of all readers. Fluent readers will speed through, while lower readers may struggle through the text. Each level of reader may end with different levels of comprehension based on their reading level. Some alternatives to whole-class novels are: reading the book aloud to students, or share-read, where students follow along and read silently with the teacher. Both of these methods allow the student to spend their mental effort on comprehending the text.

I think Miller has a valid argument and schools should consider a balance of time spent on reading associated with school tasks, and time spent on independent reading. At the end of the day, when their school experience has completed, we want students to develop into adult readers. Not an adult or child who only associates reading with tasks associated with school.

If you haven’t read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, I highly recommend it. There are many strategies embedded in the text that help teachers create a more literacy rich environment.

Parent Advisory Committee 2018

Parents,

I need your help!

Five years ago we started a Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). We have had several parents take part in these PAC meetings. We typically organize four meetings each school year and try to target dates that do not conflict with other activities. These meetings usually last around an hour.

These meetings have opened communication between our school district and parents.  The topics you can expect at these meetings are insight on current initiatives, feedback from you on our school programs, and a book discussion (you don’t have to read the book to participate).

Please go to the link below if you are interested in taking part in this opportunity.

Parent Advisory Membership Link: http://tinyurl.com/qhsf5vn

We are looking to schedule our first meeting date in November. If you are interested in taking part in a conversation to improve our schools please visit the link above by October 5, 2018.

Parents play a key role in their child’s success in school.  I am looking forward to hearing feedback from you and building better relationships within our school community.

Rugby Public School District to begin offering literacy programming to child care providers.

Literacy is “The quality or state of being literate, especially the ability to read and write.” (dictionary.com)

A synonym for literacy is learning.  Dr. Seuss said it so well, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” 

Rugby Public Schools has received a Striving Readers’ Grant. By bringing together people from various entities within Pierce County, a review was conducted of literacy programming from birth to grade 12.  Although our current literacy programming is more than satisfactory, various inconsistencies were discovered throughout the entire program. 

The goal for this grant is to powerfully come together from various entities within our county and simply enhance the ability to read and write and learn for all children, intentionally.

Mrs. Gail Rham and Mrs. Karen Black will be teaming together for the next three years to help facilitate this promising powerful growth within our community in teaching literacy.  Mrs. Rham and Mrs. Black each have over 30 years of educational experience with a particular interest in laying the foundation for literacy growth.

Our focus this coming year will be in early literacy for those children from birth to age 5. We will meet with daycare providers, our public library, and social services and identify literacy needs, discuss how we will strive to provide those needs, and seek continuing education for all early childhood care givers and facilitators.  We will explore and research literacy curriculum for early childhood, create literacy lessons, model delivery of literacy lessons, assess and measure our outcomes, as well as provide daycare providers with research-based knowledge of literacy goals and milestones for children ages 0-5.

Thank you for your willingness to join us as we promote literacy growth in our community!

Mrs. Gail Rham and Mrs. Karen Black

Ely Elementary at Capacity

The Rugby Public School District is experiencing considerable growth at Ely Elementary School. This school year we are expecting 345 students to walk through the hallways at Ely Elementary.  This is very positive news for our school district. From 1990 to 2006, district enrollment had decreased dramatically. In 2006, Ely Elementary enrollment was at an all-time low of 234 students. We are now approaching enrollment numbers that date back to the early 1990s.

Increased enrollment presents challenges. Ely Elementary is at capacity with our current enrollment. We have now expanded three grade levels to three sections. This means we have added three additional teachers and classrooms over the past seven years. The latest section addition removed our computer lab and technology will now be pushed into classrooms. Currently, every nook and cranny is being used to deliver services to our students.

Every five years the school district completes an enrollment study through RSP and Associates.  RSP studies our community’s changing demographics and provides enrollment projections up to five years in the future. They have been very accurate in projecting our actual enrollment in the past. The current projection has Ely Elementary increasing to around 360 students by 2020-2021. This will force us to create at least two additional classrooms. At this point, we are out of classroom space for the projected enrollment increase. The school district will need to respond to meet the demands of increased enrollment.

You may have attended Ely Elementary in the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s and wondering why we are at capacity when classes were larger at that time. As mentioned previously, our enrollment numbers have spiked to numbers that we haven’t seen since the early 1990s. It is important to understand that education has changed drastically over the past 15-20 years. Prior to the 2008-2009 school year, kindergarten was an every other day program. During the 2008-2009 school year, kindergarten expanded to an everyday program. This increased the number of classrooms needed to support the new kindergarten population. Special education services have expanded to meet the varying needs of students. Specialized services for occupational, physical, speech and mental health therapies have expanded. Learning is becoming more personalized and more focused on the well-being of the whole child. In the past, it wasn’t unheard of to put 30 students in a classroom. Parents want smaller class sizes for their children. All these changes in education require a space that fits our student’s needs.

During the August 7th board meeting, the Rugby Public School Board voted to contact an architect to develop a concept and provide a cost that will address our needs at Ely Elementary. A stakeholder committee will be created to help develop a plan to address our space needs. Our enrollment growth shows that our community is healthy and vibrant. Stay tuned.

Rugby Public School District Receives a Striving Readers Grant!

The research is clear on the importance of literacy. It is particularly important for students to develop early literacy skills to be successful in school. If a student is not at grade level for literacy by grade three, we know that they are at risk of struggling throughout their school experience. If they are below grade level in literacy, they will more than likely struggle in all other academic areas. It is imperative that we identify and intervene early to help students have a successful school experience.

Over the past six months a group of teachers, community stakeholders, our two principals, and I have been working on the North Dakota Striving Readers Grant application. It is a federal grant aimed at  improving literacy from birth to grade 12. Our district was selected to move past the first round and were invited to complete the official grant application in March. We held several meetings and worked with community stakeholders to design a plan based on stakeholder feedback. The grant application was submitted on June 29th and we were notified on July 23rd that we were approved for $660,000.

We brought together over 20 people from various entities (Infant Development, Right Tracks, Head Start, Rugby Public School District, Public Library, Daycare providers, Social Services, Pierce County Health, and Lone Tree Special Education) in Pierce County to review our literacy programming. Our focus was to conduct a literacy audit from birth to grade 12. This process has been an eye opening experience for our school district. Through this process we discovered various inconsistencies throughout our literacy program. We also discovered how powerful our program could be if all of these different entities worked in unison.

We identified the following areas for improvement and grant dollars will help support our growth across the birth to grade 12 continuum.

• Purchase and provide high quality curriculum to support best practices in literacy instruction. 
• Improve coordination between agencies on literacy (Rugby Early Learning Center, Social services, Right Tracks, Infant Development, Lonetree Special Education, Heart of America Public Library, Faith-based organizations, Prairie Village Museum, Village Arts, etc).
• Improve child care support services: For example: provide traveling literacy centers, trained individuals who provide literacy rich experiences to children in day care settings, sensory experiences, social and emotional learning, and quality professional development on early literacy.
• Organize community support services: provide high quality books and promote Imagination Library, traveling literacy centers, trained individuals who provide literacy rich experiences to children at the public library, social and emotional learning, and sensory experiences.
• Provide quality professional development to ALL child care providers, support staff, community literacy leaders, and faculty on literacy.
• Creation of literacy events and activities that are convenient for parents that occur throughout the year.
• Emphasize communication practices, create opportunities for parental involvement, provide clear guidance/education for parents in regard to developmental milestones, address parental apathy, and provide parental support in navigating the system. 

Over the next three years we will be hiring two new positions to coordinate literacy activities and develop a multi-tiered support system for the Rugby Early Learning Center, Ely Elementary, and Rugby High School. We will also be hiring an on site literacy consultant to provide coaching and share best practices with our support staff and teachers. We are excited for this opportunity and I am personally thankful for all of the people who helped contribute to this grant application!

KXnews: Rugby Schools Will Have A Mental Health Counselor Starting This Fall

KXnews stopped by recently to do a story on our collaboration with the Pierce County Commission. We are breaking down barriers to mental health services in our rural school district. Students will have access to a highly trained mental health professional in individual and group settings. Please take a minute to view the video below.

A focus on the whole child.

ASCD defines the whole child approach as, "policies, practices, and relationships that ensure each child, in each school, in each community, is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged." This means that we support students beyond academics and include social-emotional wellness as part of our overall programming.

In response to our district's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) results, we are taking steps forward to place more focus on social and emotional wellness. As reported in our YRBS data, students are in general, less happy and indicated an increase in depression and anxiety. As we already know, depression and anxiety lead to more risky life decisions, such as drug and alcohol abuse, and suicidal ideation. Our committee has identified a social and emotional learning curriculum that our teachers, support staff, and administration will begin to implement next year. The curriculum and training are aimed at early intervention and education.

Our district has also been working with community stakeholders to bring a mental health expert to our rural community. Like most rural communities, we lack the services that are available in the urban hubs throughout North Dakota. I should mention that when I discuss the lack of mental health services with my peers in urban areas, they too find it difficult to obtain these type of services for students. The lack of services impacts both rural and urban areas across North Dakota. In most situations, children and adults within our community have to first travel to Minot (60 miles away) to setup their appointments and attend therapy sessions. The travel is a major barrier for many families wishing to seek help. Based on these barriers and our work over the past year with our community stakeholder group, we have been able to secure funding for a clinical counselor that will be shared between the school district, Pierce County Social Services, and the Heart of America Correctional and Treatment Center. We have hired an individual that will start in August. They will provide individual and group counseling as needed. We also want to make sure that this individual has set aside time for immediate therapy as concerns arise. We don't want any barriers for children and parents.

When students are unable to regulate their emotions and struggle in social situations they often struggle academically. Similar to teaching students math and reading skills, we need to teach skills to help children regulate their emotions and understand social situations. We believe we are making positive strides by teaching social-emotional skills and removing barriers for accessing mental health services. The YRBS data are alarming and it is our duty to place more of a focus on the whole child. This is a work in progress and we are excited to see where it goes.

Link to a previous blog on our YRBS Data

RHS Spring ACT Results

We recently received the results of our junior ACT scores from earlier this spring. All juniors are required to take the ACT during the spring of their junior year. It is clear based on this set of data that we are making gains in student achievement. I personally like how there have been less peaks and valleys between classes on the charts below. We are becoming more consistent.

This doesn't happen by accident and the credit goes to our teachers. Their collaborative efforts over the years are paying off. Proud of our teachers, admin, and support staff!

Information on data:

• We have been testing all juniors since 2010-2011

• The charts only include the scores from the spring ACT test during their junior year (a single test)

• The state average is not available for 2017-2018 until June

The CEO Bubble

"If you’re a leader, you can put yourself in a cocoon—a good-news cocoon. Everyone tells you, ‘It’s all right—there’s no problem. And the next day, everything’s wrong.”  

- Nandan Nilekani

If we aren't careful our perception of our organization can be vastly different than reality. I ran across the following tweet and it caused me to think about how we define reality from our perception.

If you're in #SchoolPR this is just a part of our reality. #WSPRA #BrianWoodland #SpeakTheTruth pic.twitter.com/5ApT91jUgk

— WSPRA (@wspraboard) April 26, 2018

According to Hougaard and Carter (2018), the power that comes with a leadership position creates a bubble around the leader. As leaders rise in the ranks and gain more power they tend to become more insulated. This is largely due to the increase in praise and support that goes along with a leadership role. The bubble can shield the leader from what's happening in their organization.

"When we're in the CEO bubble, we don't get the tough feedback we need to improve our thinking and behavior." 

- Hougaard and Carter 

This means that we have to actively seek the truth. If we aren't aware of the CEO bubble we become more narrow minded and we're left with a version of reality that's of our own making. We need to surround ourselves with people who won't inflate our bubble and speak the truth. We can either seek comforting lies or we can stretch ourselves by seeking out unpleasant truths.

Hougaard and Carter provide some examples to become a more selfless leader:

• Every time you use, or are about to use, a self-referential term, pause and consider whether using a more inclusive term would be beneficial

• Consider ways in which your ego gets in the way of your leadership, and think of one concrete step to overcome its limitation

• Consider what "humility" means for you; if it is a value, consider one thing you will do to cultivate greater humility in your leadership 

How do you seek unpleasant truths? 

The Mind of the Leader by Hougaard and Carter

Fourth Annual STEM Camp

We are pleased to inform you about the fourth annual summer STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Camp offered in Rugby! This year’s theme is “A Dino-Mite STEM Camp!” The STEM Camp is open to students enrolling in 3rd – 5th grades for the 2018 – 2019 school year at Rugby Public School. The camp will run Monday, July 30th – Friday, August 3rd from 8 AM to noon each day at the Rugby High School in the commons area, which is located by the front entry of the building. Enrollment will begin in April 2018. Stop by either the Ely Elementary office or the Rugby High School office to pick up a registration form. Enrollment is $40 per student and checks should be made to Rugby Public School. Payment needs to be submitted with a completed application. Space is limited to 35 students, so don’t delay in filling out and returning your applications!

Students will be grouped together and will work together with peers and high school student helpers to complete investigations pertaining to dinosaurs and prehistoric Earth. Students should arrive promptly so they can have optimal educational opportunities. Students will be served a small snack mid-morning. Below you will find the schedule of events. We hope your students will be a part of this exciting summer program! Parent volunteers are welcome to join us. Please contact Ms. Goddard for more information on volunteering.

Application can be found HERE

Day	Time	Events      (Partial list of the events of the day)
Monday, July 30	8:00 AM - Noon	Dinosaur diets, skeletons, graphing, matching, sorting
Tuesday, July 31	8:00 AM - Noon	Dinosaur dig, dinosaur feet size, rocks and minerals, climate
Wednesday, Aug. 1	8:00 AM - Noon	Geologic time scale, comparative embryology & morphology
Thursday, Aug. 2	8:00 AM - Noon	Guest speaker, coal and oil formation, mapping fossils
Friday, Aug. 3	8:00 AM - Noon	Technology day (build with the engineering kits)

The Cutting Ed Podcast features Mr. Leier

The Cutting Ed is a podcast that is developed by Tom Gerhardt. Recently, Tom Gerhardt interviewed Mr. Leier in regard to his Mainstreet Initiative Project and our study abroad program. You can listen to the podcast below. Nice job Mr. Leier!

Listen to "EP 20 From Rugby's Main Street to Machu Picchu, Students Bring History to Life" on Spreaker.

Parent Advisory Committee Meeting: April 4th

Here are the topics we will discuss next week during our PAC meeting on April 4th at 7:00pm in the RHS Board Room.

Future of Education

The world is changing rapidly and school systems need to adapt or they will become obsolete. We are nearing the end of our current strategic plan. We will begin an intensive strategic planning process next fall and we will be reviewing our entire system. This process will include a new mission, vision and a set of new school goals. We hope to address our relevancy in the changing world through this process. What does the future of education look like? What will stakeholders support? What should we be aware of?

School Security

School security has been a hot topic across the country and unfortunately, some policy makers are making knee jerk reactions. We will share our school district's vision for addressing school security concerns.

Climate and Culture

We have been continuing a conversation on climate and culture within our school district this year. The climate and culture that exists between the adults in the building trickles down to our students and can be positive or negative. We will share some information about our future 2018-2019 Climate and Culture plan.

I hope to see you there! This is a great way to hear about our schools and an excellent opportunity for you to provide feedback.

Thanks!

Childhood trauma has a lasting impact

According to recent studies on childhood trauma, there is a link between childhood trauma and an increased risk of premature death. Children that are exposed to abuse, neglect, suicide, drug or alcohol addicted family member, domestic violence, loss of a parent, divorce, or incarceration of a family member are more likely to develop diseases that impact their life expectancy. According this research, life expectancy decreases based on the amount of “doses” of abuse and neglect a child experiences. One might think that this is due to the likelihood of adopting risky behaviors to cope with the experiences of being abused and neglected. The study however found that those that had been exposed to childhood trauma and lived a relatively healthy life had a greater chance of developing a life-threatening disease.   In other words, people exposed to multiple childhood traumatic stressors are at an increased risk of premature death compared to people that did not experience a traumatic childhood. This means that even if you live a relatively healthy life and do not engage in risky behaviors you are at a greater risk of a premature death due to the exposure to childhood trauma.

Sustained childhood trauma physiologically changes the brain. We once thought that if a child was too young to remember the abuse, they would be okay. That is not true. In fact, the younger the child is at the time of the abuse/neglect, the more damaging this can be to the brain. The complex and chronic stress at a young age can be debilitating and may make it difficult for some children to overcome their environment. What can we do about it? Why do some children make it against all odds and others don’t? According to the research, it is all about developing resilience and having access to an effective caregiver. We can teach resilience and develop quality relationships with our children. Students who have an effective caregiver can overcome their environment and become productive citizens. An effective caregiver can come in all shapes and sizes; they do not have to be biological parents. They can be grandparents, uncles, aunts, teachers, neighbors, foster parents, clergy members, school support staff, etc. Recent brain research has indicated that the brain is malleable and is able to heal itself. It is important that we find ways for all children to have a positive adult role model to confide in. The Rugby Public School District is taking strides to create a more trauma informed school system. We recognize that we may need to be the effective caregiver and provide custodial support for children. We are becoming more systemic in how we support our children. Student achievement is our number one priority, but we realize that for students to achieve at a high level they need to be socially and emotionally stable.

Link to research: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/index.html

We have mental health problems in our society and kids come to school.

I ran across the following tweet a few weeks ago and I couldn't agree with it more.

If I hear one more person say we have a mental health problem in our schools I’m gonna scream. We have mental health problems in our society and kids come to school.

— Josh Starr (@JoshuaPStarr) February 16, 2018

Like many other educators and school leaders, I have been thinking about the tragedy in Florida since it occurred last month. The details of the school shooting continue to come out and continue to shock us. Unfortunately, every school in America may have a student or students that fit a similar profile as the school shooter in Parkland, FL. This is a scary reality and how do we fix this? I don't think the solution is to arm teachers. I believe it starts with providing resources that go beyond academic supports. Schools lack the resources to effectively deal with behavioral health. We need to address the whole child. Our students need wraparound services that span the Continuum of Care: Promotion, Prevention, Treatment and Recovery.

Due to our state's budget issues over the past few years there has been considerable discussion about efficiency across the state. Basically, how can we "do more with less?" I know we can always find more efficient ways of doing things to save money - this is my job as a school superintendent. These efficiency discussions concern me, because I think it is a nice way of saying "spend less." Communities across North Dakota from rural to urban lack resources and specialized staffing to address mental health. The system itself is difficult to navigate, even for the most connected and educated people. Schools, social services, and health care work in silos, which further compounds this issue.

Effective behavioral health services cost money. Currently, we do not receive funding in this area. Schools have been seeking outside help with these costs. For example, we are collaborating with our county correctional facility and social services to pool funding. This funding will be used to help address our school and community's behavioral health needs. Next school year we will be able to hire a clinical counselor to provide therapy for both students and families. This is a start for our school district, but a clinical counselor is pretty far along the Continuum of Care. We need to start earlier with Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), students can learn social skills and ways to cope with their emotions. We are having conversations with daycare centers to begin teaching SEL. We will be developing a plan to teach/address SEL throughout grades K-12. We must elevate SEL to the level of academics. Social and emotional curriculum and instruction occurs in the Promotion and Prevention area of the Continuum of Care. The earlier we address SEL the higher the likelihood we can address the deficit.

We should think about social and emotional learning the same way we think about academic achievement. Educate students on SEL and target interventions when needed.

— Mike McNeff (@mdmcneff) February 1, 2018

I fear that this will spark a brief debate about behavioral health in society and then the media will move on after a period of time. We will forget, hide, or mask this problem and then another tragedy will happen. Our kids need help and schools are not equipped currently to provide the level of wrap around services needed. So rather than using resources to arm teachers, let's focus our resources to address the whole child.

How are you educating the whole child?

A previous blog on this subject: Less Talk More Action

The Rugby Early Learning Center is now taking applications.

Our preschool is now taking applications for the 2018-2019 school year. The application is due on April 6, 2018 and can be dropped off at any of these sites: Rugby High School, Ely Elementary, and the Rugby Early Learning Center. The program is free to all those who attend. Your child is eligible for the program if he or she is age three or four. It is a four day a week program (Monday - Thursday) and follows regular school hours.

If you have further questions about our program please contact Michael McNeff at Rugby Public School District at (701) 776-5201. Thank you!

For more information and an application form please click here.

SBG and Responsibility/Accountability

Responsibility and accountability often come up when I talk with teachers, parents, and other stakeholders about standards-based grading and reporting. In the old model, we would often give one shot opportunities for students to learn. It became more important that students knew the material by a certain date or time. Those that took longer or displayed negative approaches to learning (late work, zeroes, etc.) were often left behind. Grades didn’t necessarily depict what the student knew or what they were able to do.

Some schools have called these behaviors employability skills. We have chosen to call them approaches to learning. We know that for students to be successful in their learning they must exhibit certain behaviors. For example, our teachers in grades 4-6 have identified these behaviors to report separately from the grade: responsibility, respectful, stays on task, completes work on time, and work is neat. Our teachers in grades 7-12 have identified work habits, self-reliance, and sound character as their approaches to learning.

In a standards-based system we allow opportunities for second chances. Some may question as to whether we are holding students accountable and preparing them for life when we allow second chances for learning. I am not diminishing the importance of accountability and responsibility. I believe we need to instill these skills during a student's school experience. My response is that when we separate behaviors like late work and zeroes from the grade we become much more accurate. Under this new model we elevate the significance of accountability and responsibility, because we report it separately from the grade.

You can read more about our work here.

Professional Learning Day: January 15th

Our school district and several others will be taking part in an excellent day of learning on January 15th. Thanks to NCEC for organizing this event in coordination with our member school districts. You can find the sessions and links to the presentations below.

*You will need to right click the presentations and view in a new window to access them. 

Congratulations Mr. Blikre!

It is my pleasure to announce that Jared Blikre our high school principal has been named Region 2 principal of the year. He is now in the running for the North Dakota Secondary Principal of the Year. Mr. Blikre has served as our high school principal for the past six years. Under his leadership he has implemented several innovative measures that have led to improved student achievement. These innovative changes have increased our graduation rate, lowered failure rate, increased ACT scores, and increased the percentage of students that qualify for the North Dakota Academic and CTE Scholarships.

We are very fortunate to have Mr. Blikre as our high school principal. He is an excellent school leader and keeps students at the forefront of his decision making. This is very exciting for our school district. Mr. Blikre joins Jason Gullickson our elementary principal as region principal of the year for this school year. They will now both compete at the state level for principal of the year in their respective fields. Congratulations Mr. Blikre!