Focus in the Right Direction
I hope you don’t mind if I share my personal thoughts with you this month. I love where I am in my life at this moment and I love McKinley School, the staff, and this community. I feel we all give our all for the kids.
With this in mind, I do feel that in the most part, education focuses far too extensively on test scores and far too little on the whole child. We often choose one-size-fits-all fixes while ignoring solid research about the infinite ways students learn and children develop. The true measure of students’ proficiency and college, career, and citizenship-readiness must be based on more than just their scores on state standardized reading and math assessments.
We shouldn’t simply teach to the test. We need to teach for understanding, and assessments are tools to gauge that understanding. When used effectively, assessments can facilitate high levels of student achievement by providing ongoing information about students’ grasp of key concepts and how to enhance their learning to help them meet or exceed academic requirements. We also need to provide fun activities with music, P.E., and the arts.
Parents, our test scores did slip a little this past year so please encourage and help your student with their studies by encouraging them to follow through with their teacher’s excellent teaching. If you have questions, please communicate with the teacher and then render timely service to your child. Value those individual needs and extend a hand when needed. This will ultimately show in increased test scores for your child and the school.
I want all of you to know that we’re here and we’re committed to our school. The TEAM at McKinley is determined to instill in our students strong skills in reading, writing, and math. We are also determined to give students a home-away-from-home that provides endless motivation, support, and guidance.
We are always open to ideas and suggestions so please feel free to drop by my office with your ideas and successes to share. As we establish a connection and value individual needs we all can see the “big picture” and make McKinley even better.
Thanks again!
Mr. Chadaz
