December 15, 2014 at 4:30 p.m.
Losch outlines plan to improve charter school
Losch outlines plan to improve charter school
Losch unveiled that last week for review by the School District of Rhinelander Instruction and Accountability Committee.
NCSS has had a roller coaster-like ride with the state report cards since the first reports were issued in 2011-'12.
The charter school found itself in the "meets few expectations" category after the first report card was released, but rose a level to "meets expectations" on the second report card. It fell again to "meets few expectations" in the latest report.
A high absenteeism rate - 15.2 percent - hurt the school on the latest report card. Absenteeism rates over 13 percent garner a 5-point deduction.
The absenteeism rates used for the latest report card were from the 2012-'13 school year. Losch said the school will not lose the five points on next year's report card as its absenteeism rate for 2013-'14 is within the required parameters.
"The absentee rate that DPI used on that report card, their most current data is 2012-'13," he said. "This year, when they look at 2013-'14 data, which is already available, we're going to be compliant. I anticipate were going to go up five points next year simply with the passage of time. That's good from a numbers perspective, but we know attendance is an area where we want to take some steps to make sure we're still in that area.
To ensure the school doesn't lose five points on future report cards, Losch said NCSS is implementing attendance policies similar to those used in the rest of the district.
"In terms of attendance, we really looked at having stronger fidelity to some existing practices in the district," he said. "We feel really good at NCSS about how well we know our kids. We're a small setting ... and that allows us to get to know them, but we still want to go back to some district-wide practices such as Check and Connect."
Check and Connect allows the district to check in with students who may be missing a lot of school time.
"That's where, if there's a kids that's missing some school, we have a set sequence where a staff member will contact them just to check in and see what's going on," Losch said. "We don't want to over-pry, but we want to let our kids know that there's a staff person that's looking out for them to pick up on any possible underlying issues and then offer support if it's connected to being absent."
Even with the five attendance points, however, the school still would have fallen into the "meets few expectations" category on the most recent report card.
The main reason for that is the school's reading and math scores.
To improve math scores, Losch said NCSS teaches are changing how they approach the subject.
"We've standardized our math a little bit. The idea that math is a little bit more challenging to do in a project-based environment is something we've known since 2004 when we first opened the project-based school," he said.
"Math has always been the core area that is the most challenging to do in that setting because it's so sequential that it's hard to just pick a topic here and there and then work it into a project."
Now, Losch said, NCSS will have set times to work on math.
"We want everybody in our building doing math at the same time. We actually have a set math period now, and the kids go to whatever room corresponds with the level of math they're at," he said.
"I think that alone, creating a re-emphasis on math being a part of our everyday routines, I expect that's going to help us move in the right direction."
Direct instruction will also play a role in the plan.
"In the past, we've never done any direct instruction with math. A lot of our kids do computer-based, self-based programs, but we are also offering an algebra group every day," Losch said. "We also have a number of students that go to the middle school and high school to take traditional math classes as well."
A similar plan is in place for reading.
"In terms of reading, we have two big things that we're doing there," Losch said. "In the past, up until this year, we would do specific reading instruction for our middle school students but not for our high school students. We kind of turned them loose and let them get a lot of their reading lessons through their project work. We decided to expand that reading group hour to include high school students as well, so now all of our students are doing that."
NCSS is also in the process of restructuring its English and language arts curriculum.
"The second thing is we're revamping our language arts curriculum. We've essentially had the same graduation requirements for high schoolers since 2004 in the areas of English and language arts. Every year there was a certain list based on the old standards of having to complete so many writing pieces and read so many books," Losch said.
"What we did is we've taken the curriculum companion, which the traditional teachers (in the district) have that's aligned with the Common Core standards."
"We took that and divided it up into about 10 or 11 projects per grade level so that the kids can still work through it at their own pace, but still have to complete it all," he added.
"We're piloting that right now with our sixth grade and we're finalizing the others for the other grades. We're finding that's a little more directive language arts program ... and it gives us a little more confidence that we're hitting all of those language arts skills, including reading and writing."
Losch said he believes the changes outlined in the plan will result in better grades for the state within the next year or two.
"We're hoping that between those things, even within a single year, we want to see some significant growth in those areas," he said.
"We're targeting a 15 percent growth for each of the next two years."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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