Madison Middle School

By gaston_e 　https://blogs.4j.lane.edu/madisonstaff/2020/02/09/february-10-2020/

Many thanks to Audrey, Mary, Rechelle, our volunteers, Tim and his wife, and anyone else I missed for planning and supervising a very successful Winter Activity Night. Over half our students bought tickets and with the exception of one incident, it was a very successful event.

• 4J Secondary School Climate Survey – Please plan a time during Focus to have students take this survey. It needs to be completed before the end of February. This one is different than the one we gave earlier this year. Some questions will be similar if not exactly the same, but this one is for all middle schoolers in the district. Here is the info from Shasta Quigley, the district PBIS coordinator. Please let me know if you have any questions.
  
  Directions for administration:
  1. Please administer this survey to as many students as possible in all grades at your school
  2. It is important that we have as many students take the survey as possible, and that we get at least 50% response across each grade level
  3. I have also copied school counselors and middle school PBIS team leaders on this email so that everyone has the same information.
  4. Your survey must be completed by the end of February. We will be pulling and analyzing results the following week to send to you.
          
• Repeat: FastBridge Testing – Our testing window for Winter screening is now open in FastBridge. ELA and Math teachers, please plan on spending 2 days on the assessment. Some kids will finish faster or will have tested with Amy or Matt (please check with them), so please consider having an alternative assignment might be a good idea. Kids will need headphones. We don’t have many school headphones, so kids are welcome to bring and use their own. All of the info below is also available in in this google doc. We also have this slideshow for students on how to log in and which tests to take if you’d like to use it again.
  • Teacher Log In and Info
    • To get your password, visit https://auth.fastbridge.org/login.do and choose “Request Password”. Input your 4J email and it will send you a link to set your password. I’m not sure if this also works if you’ve forgotten your password.
    • Log in: 4j email and chosen password
    • In your teacher dashboard, under the Screening tab, you can see the status of each of your students’ test. They should test until there are scores in that space. If it says “Not Started” or “Resume”, then the student isn’t finished.

    Assessments

    • aReading and aMath
    • Note: They will likely need to click the blue “More Tests” button to get to A-reading and A-math
    • Update: For aReading, students do NOT need to take the AutoReading assessments. They can stop as soon as the test tells them “Congratulations! You may exit this test.”
    • To see the kids who are finished, go “Reporting”, choose Group Screening Report, and choose the test you gave. If the student has a score in the Winter column and a percentile rank in the final column, they’re done with the test.

    Student Log In

    • There is a Fast Bridge shortcut on their iPad apps
    • Username = first name(capital) + student id
      • Example: Erin345678
      • Print outs are in your mailboxes
    • Password for ALL students = madison
    • Students will need headphones (straight jack) to hear directions for both tests and to have math questions read to them.
    • I will be working Monday morning to ensure all our new students have accounts and passwords. If you run into any issues with kids not being able to log in, please let me know ASAP and I’ll get their account fixed.
    • I will put lists of usernames and passwords in your mailbox as soon as they are ready. If you’re planning on testing Monday, let me know and I’ll get them to you during Focus.
    • You might want to have all students attempt a log-in the day before you want to text to ensure they can all get in.

       New: Make Up Testing

    • Next week (Feb. 18-21) I’ll put together a schedule to catch kids who were absent or who need more time to finish their FastBridge assessments. It will likely be Tuesday, Feb 19 during 4th period and Wednesday, Feb 19 during 1st period. However I’ll know more later this week.
    • If you’re running a testing session, please consider letting kids know if they missed the other assessment (aReading or aMath), they can work on it after they’re finished with your assessment. You can see if students are finished by going to the Group Screening Report and choosing the correct measure. You can also show only your particular class period by using the Class drop down box and choosing your period (if there’s a number at the end, that refers to the class period).
           
• State Testing – Peter and I will review the feedback collected from last year’s testing and work to put together a schedule. Having been a testing coordinator in the past, I know this is a “no win” situation when we have to give up instructional time for assessments. Our goal will be to do what is best for students and be as efficient as possible. We will communicate the schedule as soon as it’s ready. Please feel free to email me this week with any suggestions or feedback from last year.
       
• Staffing Allocations – Next week we will get our 2020-21 staffing allocations. Any admin with fewer than 3 years of experience in 4J have to attend a staffing training on Feb 20 to get their allocations. We will share information about staffing as soon as we can. I don’t imagine we will see much change, but if any particular staff member’s position is going to be impacted, we will speak them before we share information with the staff as a whole.
       
• Student Teachers – The district is still doing some early teaching pool hiring to get ahead of other districts’ hiring timelines. If you have a student teacher who wants to stay in Eugene and would be a great addition to 4J, please let Peter or myself know, or email Rob Hess directly and let him know. Once the Job Expo is completed, the people hired into the pools will be moved into any remaining positions. 
       
• Behavior Management with DHH students – In case you missed Roger’s email, this is just a reminder that our DHH students are to be treated the same as hearing students when it comes to behavior.
       
• Reading Intervention Testing Coming March 16 – The reading intervention team downtown is working on a better system for identifying secondary students in need of reading intervention. This year they are sending a team to each building to conduct screeners on any students who have been identified as possibly in need of reading support. Students will be identified for screening through a composite score that includes: FastBridge scores, ELA grades, and ELA SBAC scores from last year. Students with low composite scores will take the Reading Inventory from Read 180 to get a Lexile score in comprehension. They expect to test between 40-50 students per grade level. We will set them up in an empty classroom that day. Please be prepared for students to be called out of class to take their screening assessment. I understand this will be disruptive, but I am happy to see a plan that will help us ensure kids are getting the interventions they need. 
      
• Reflections on Becoming More Culturally Responsive – Here’s a great article from Edutopia about a group of participants in a program on culturally responsive teaching practices sharing what they’ve learned about themselves – and how their teaching has changed as a result. 
       
• Schedule of Upcoming Events:

February 10 (M) 
     Regular Day

February 11 (T) 
     7:45, TLC Meeting (conference room)
     9:00, Peter and Erin to All Admin Meeting (downtown)
     4:00, Erin and others to ISLA Data Design Team Meeting (Briggs MS)

February 12 (W) 
     3:45, Climate Team Meeting (Anne’s office)
     6:30, Santa Clara Park Meeting

February 13 (H)
     7:30, Justice League (Anne’s office)
     8:15, Peter to MS Principals’ Meeting (Parr Room)
     10:15, Erin to formal observation

February 14 (F) 
     2:45, Building Based PD
     3:30, Grade Level Team Meeting

February 17 (M)
     No school – Presidents’ Day

February 18 (T)
     7:30, Erin covering at Howard
     4th period, Tentative make-up for FastBridge

February 19 (W)
     8:00, Staff Meeting (library)
     1st period, Tentative make-up for FastBridge
     7:00, School Board Meeting

February 20 (H)
     9:30, Erin and Peter to HR Staffing Allocation Meeting (downtown)

February 21 (F)
      2:45, Building-based PD – PLCs
      3:30, Grade Level Team meetings

Have a great week, y’all! We’ve got a three day weekend coming up!
Erin