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Greetings Star Lake Families,
Happy New Year, and happy new decade to each of you! Here we are, already at the mid-point of our school year! Our teachers are currently conducting mid-year assessments in IRLA (reading) and iReady (reading and math) and are working on first semester report cards, which will be coming home on February 7th. Our report cards tell you which standards your child has been working on this first semester and how they are progressing toward meeting standard. Students receive a 1-2-3-4 rating on each standard assessed and do not receive an overall English language arts or math “grade.” This scoring by standard gives you detailed information regarding which standards and skills your child is meeting, and which skills and concepts they are still practicing.
Washington state law requires that we indicate if you child is currently meeting benchmark standard in reading and their current reading level on report cards. We assess our students’ independent reading level using the “Independent Reading Leveled Assessment” or IRLA. If your child is not meeting benchmark, in addition to increasing practice and interventions in the classroom, their teacher will also provide suggestions for practice at home in the comment portion of the report card, or on their skill card in their IRLA book bag. Quite often, when students are close to standard, increasing reading time at home is the key to that extra needed growth. Please encourage your child to read 20-30 minutes every evening. Your child should be bringing IRLA reading books home EVERY DAY. If they are not, first remind them to bring that book home, and then reach out to their teacher to create a plan together. In addition, if you have any questions about your child’s progress please do not hesitate to contact their teacher or me.
January is also a time when I review my classroom observation data and have mid-year conversations with teachers about their professional and student growth goals. We celebrate successes and work together to determine the best professional development strategies and partnerships to increase teacher capacity with high leverage instructional strategies.
Best Regards,
Kris Rennie
Principal
