September Parent Letter

Sep 16, 2024

A REMINDER: WE HAVE A REMOTE LEARNING DAY ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH. STUDENTS WILL WORK FROM HOME ON THIS DAY.

We will be hosting over 25 high school Student Councils and National Honor Society organizations from around the area on that day. The West Carrollton High School Student Council and National Honor Society will be hosting this event with Josten’s. The Renaissance Event brings students together to hear speakers, attend breakout sessions, and attend work sessions to develop student leadership.

Our State Report Card Data

The data and goals I will review in this newsletter are focused on our academic performance inside and outside the classroom. Every year, we are evaluated on the measures of the state report card. While some of the measures can be confusing, the performance index measure and the test scores are the key indicators of our students’ performance. I have documented both measures below to show our growth over the past year.

While we are aware we need to continue to improve, the fact that we improved on 9 of the 11 measures is worth celebrating. The changes that were implemented in the building and the continued focus on teaching and learning produced positive results. I was pleased to see this growth but at the same time, we need to stay focused and stay committed to improving teaching and learning in the building.

Goals for each grade level for the 2024-2025 school year:

Freshmen:

Each year Freshmen take Algebra I as a required academic course for graduation. All students enrolled in an Algebra I class must take the state test in the spring. Students must score a 700 or higher to pass the test. Students who score a 684 to 699 can show competency and stay on track to graduate, this is known as the threshold score. Our goal is to increase the passing rate to 40.7% and increase the competency (threshold score) to 75%. Our Freshmen in the 2023-2024 school year had 63% of our students meet the threshold score.

Sophomores:

The Sophomore year is the most important year of the four years of high school. The Sophomores’ schedule is full of classes needed for graduation, and they have four State End of Course Exams in the spring. We had 73% of our Sophomores in the 2023-2024 school year earn a score of 684 or higher. This is why we set the goal of 75% for our students to score above the threshold score and increase the passing rate to 63%. We also set goals for the other three exams that increase the passing rates by 5% or more.

Juniors:

The Juniors will have one State End of Course Exam and that is US Government. Our goal is to reach the 75% passing rate. We have stalled at 68.3% for the past two years so we need to focus on pushing past this number to increase achievement.

Seniors:

I spoke with this year’s Seniors at the end of last school year. The assignment was to visit three college campuses that they were interested in attending. Those who planned on enlisting in the military were to visit the recruiting offices of each branch. Those who planned on attending a trade school were to research the schools and programs. The purpose of this assignment was for our Seniors to have a plan walking in the door. Our counselors would assist them in executing the plan. On the report card there is a measure for Prepared for Success. This measure tracks the Graduates pathways after graduation. We increased our score from 27.9% to 37.5% on the 2023-2024 report card. When you review all of the Senior Goals they are focused on their post high school plan. We want to increase this over score to 50% or higher.

Our Current Academic Performance in the Classroom

We have completed FIVE weeks of school and at the end of the five weeks we ran interim grades. The grades are NOT permanent until October the 11th. This means ALL students have the time and opportunity to raise their grades as high as possible. I can not stress enough how important this measure is when it comes to graduation and post high school plans. This is why we set the goal of 80% passing all core classes for Freshmen and Sophomores and 85% for Juniors.

I stress to our students on a daily basis that the harder they work toward their academic goals, the more opportunities they will have after high school. The work that the students do only on a daily basis is vital to their future.

Parents

Log into the Progress Book and check your student(s) grades on a weekly basis.
Ask your student(s) about their academic goals they set each week in advisory.
Review their academic goals each week.
Email the teachers to inquire about your student(s) grades.

(see attached pages for email addresses)

Make sure your student(s) are at school every day and on time.

We stress to our student’s every day that their grades are a reflection of the work they have put into each class. We try to communicate to them the importance of making good decisions, committing to meeting their goals, and being present every day. We have a 35% chronic absenteeism rate for the 2023-2024 school year. We need to improve drastically on this measure so that means the more staff and parents communicate, in a positive productive way the better our students can perform academically.

After School Tutoring

After school tutoring will begin Tuesday, September 24th. Tutoring in core subjects will be available to all students from 3:15 PM to 4:00 PM. Tutoring will be offered Tuesday through Thursday of each week. The expectations for students who plan to attend tutoring are as follows:

Students must report to the cafeteria by 3:15 to sign up with the teacher who will provide the tutoring services. Students must stay with that teacher.
Students will work in the classroom with the teacher until 4:00 PM
Students will exit the building at 4:00 PM
All students who are walking around or hanging out in the hallways or bathrooms will lose tutoring privileges.

Additional Highlights

Finally, we want to share a few highlights from the report card and the current school year data.

On the 2023-2024 report card, we had more students score at the highest level (Advanced) than anytime for the past five years. This means our best and brightest are getting better.
We increased our remediation free score of the ACT to over 5%.
We have 43 students with perfect attendance, no referrals and straight As at this point in the school year.
U.S. History End of Course Exam average score was higher than the state average.

Staff Email Addresses:

Alicia Soich

September Parent Letter

The Hook