Weekly Newsletter

 Newberg High School Newsletter         
December 19, 2014

This week in Newberg Nation….

Newberg Nation Holiday Spirit Week!

Kudos to our many ASB leadership students and to our student body overall for a great Newberg Nation themed holiday spirit week this week! Complete with dress up days including an avalanche, holiday socks and hats, pajamas and ugly sweaters it was a week filled with Newberg Nation and holiday based school spirit! We would like to thank our ASB students for all their hard work in putting together events such as these and for making Newberg Nation such an energized place for our kids and community to enjoy!

Changing needs at NHS!

As you are probably aware the past year has seen a transition occur at NHS, a change based on not only identifying the current needs that exist at NHS, but a change that emphasizes identifying both current and long term needs while also creating structures to ensure that the needs of all students are met now, and into our future.

Whether looking at school report card data, achievement gap information, graduation rates, post-secondary pursuits for NHS students, four year academic plans for every NHS student, comparisons to similar school districts or any other information that will help us identify what our students need, we have come to the realization that we still have much work to do in meeting the needs of every student that attends NHS.

While we are proud of NHS, the work we have done and the student successes that we all share, our needs as a school have simply changed, and we need to adapt to those changes in an effort to address them. Examples of our current needs include achievement gaps that exist for many of our students and our need to help more of our kid’s complete high school as NHS currently has an average of approximately 80 students that do not graduate each year!

So what does our data on our students tell us?

Similarly, NHS student achievement data indicates several needs, especially in regards to our OAKS essential skills data. While many of our students perform well on these standardized literacy exams, many continue to struggle. What this data indicates is that roughly one in twelve NHS Juniors did not meet the states standard in reading, while one in three did not meet in writing and roughly one in four did not meet in math. Again, passing these exams is required in order to earn a high school diploma in the state of Oregon. While this data is telling as to the current needs of all students at NHS, there are even greater needs when we take a closer look at what the data really tells us.

The more specific current needs at NHS are reflected in what lies deeper in the data when we disaggregate it. For instance, in the same cohort of NHS students described above there are subgroups of students the state identifies as “economically disadvantaged,” “Latino/Hispanic” and “students with disabilities.” Students within these groups struggle even more in terms passing their essential skills exams and larger “achievement gaps” exist when comparing how students in these groups perform as compared to the NHS average. Examples of these gaps include that approximately half of our “economically disadvantaged” and “Latino/Hispanic” students are not passing their math or writing exams, while one in three of our “students with disabilities” are passing their reading exams and less than one in four are passing their writing or math exams.

What this information reveals in general terms is that approximately 40% of the students at NHS continue to struggle to pass their essential skills while roughly 30% continue to drop out. Meanwhile, approximately 60% of our students are receiving the support they need to graduate, pass their essential skills exams, and pursue whatever post-secondary endeavor they like. We believe it is our responsibility to ensure that 100% of our students have that support!

We must continue what we are doing well while addressing our current challenges!

To this end it is our goal to maintain the positive things that are happening at NHS while helping meet the needs that have continued to be a challenge over the past several years. It is our goal to continue supporting the roughly 60% of our students that are already finding success here at NHS so that they continue to enjoy those successes, as well as the other positive academic trends occurring within our walls. Trends such as the increasing number of students that are taking the SAT’s, enrolling in AP courses and those passing 6.5 or more credits per year thus remaining on track to graduate. These are all positive trends that also appear in our current data as a school.

Again, while we want to maintain the positive trends that are occurring at NHS we also need to consider a different, more flexible approach that will assist us in in meeting the rest of the needs that are not currently trending upward (e.g. our graduation and achievement gaps). Regardless of which approach we choose there is one universal truth that must remain at the heart of any approach we utilize; we must maintain the meaningful connections that so many of our students, staff and parents have created during the past several years. We cannot lose sight of knowing our kids, their families, and the communication that occurs between all of us as we partner together to wrap support around each of our students. It has been made abundantly clear to me over the past eight months that these relationships are at the heart of what makes Newberg High, Newberg Nation!

So we simply need to figure out how to redistribute our resources in a way that continues to support the 62% of our students that are already being successful at NHS, while reorganizing some of our resources to meet the needs of the 38%. The solution to this need requires us to look at all of our available resources and to remove the constraints that we have put on them, constraints that have made it difficult to meet the current needs of all NHS students.

Changing how we schedule students and classes will help!

The thing that is currently causing us the greatest challenge is how we schedule students and teachers into classes, or as we call it, our master scheduling process. By having four different school schedules that have to align (and this being the first constraint) we immediately lose a great deal of flexibility. This loss of flexibility in our scheduling inhibits our ability to innovatively develop specific classes, assign specific teachers, or utilize specific curriculum. Increasing this flexibility will not only help our groups that need extra help and support, it will also allow us more freedom when it comes to scheduling all classes, for all students, thus creating more student choice and less conflicts in student schedules.

Furthermore, increasing our flexibility in this manner will help us free up the resources we need to help close our achievement gaps with our students in need without taking away from our students that are already doing well. Again, this is the key tenet that we are holding to as we need every student to have a meaningful high school experience here at NHS.

So what does this all mean?

So what this means is that Newberg High School will have elements of a new structure in the fall of 2015, specifically, a new master scheduling structure in which we take all of our teachers, classes and students and schedule them in a more flexible manner. While this new structure will give us more flexibility in our approaches to meeting our student’s current needs, there are still many details to be worked out. We will begin those conversations shortly after the holiday break and they will continue as we move forward.

Meanwhile, we will continue to work hard at increasing the already strong relationships we have with our students and their families, we will be able to be more specific in meeting the curricular and support needs of all of our students, and we will have more flexibility in supporting all of our student’s dreams (and their subsequent paths to attain them) as they envision their lives beyond their years at Newberg High. For it is our quest that each student at Newberg High School have every opportunity afforded them to feel as though they are a connected, valued and meaningful member of Newberg Nation with the support and guidance they need to be as successful as possible!           

Are you a STEMMIE?

If you are one of our Flying Tigers that loves engineering, math, science robotics, drafting or manufacturing have we got an opportunity for you! We are excited to announce that Sherwood High School has invited NHS students and parents to attend a special presentation being held at Sherwood High on Wednesday, January 7th, at 630pm!

                Here is the invitation from Sherwood High:

Intel Visionary Tony Salvador to Present at Sherwood High School

Dr. Salvador is a prolific speaker who directs research in the Experience Insights Lab at Intel Corporation.  He graciously agreed to visit Sherwood High School for a TED (Technology, Engineering, and Design) style interactive talk, titled “Real Make Belief”.

This event will take place in the SHS Performing Arts Center on Wednesday January 7th, 6:30 to 8:00 pm, with a reception and book signing following. The event is open to High School students and their parents at no cost.  Don’t miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity!

                So if you are a STEMMIE you should jump at the chance to go to this presentation and hear Dr. Salvador talk about the future of American industry, how make the “make believe,” a reality in the decades to come! An inspiring, engaging and entertaining speaker, Dr. Salvador’s message is that we are creating our own futures from our very own imaginations! Don’t miss this event if you have any interest in pursuing a career in these fields!

Newberg Nations very own Vickie Peterson, NHS School to Work Coordinator, is leading our campaign to help get students and parents to this incredible opportunity at Sherwood High! For more information on the event please contact Mrs. Peterson at petersonv@newberg.k12.or.us or at 503-554-4400.

News From the NHS Career Center:

Get free help with filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) on Tuesday, January 13th in the West Commons from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m.  Bring your 2014 IRS tax return and 2013 or 2014 W2 Forms.  Si Habla mosen Espanol.

• Create a 90 second video and you could win a $10,000 scholarship; a fun, new way to pay for school!  Must be a high school senior with a 3.5 GPA or higher.  See website for details and application: http://www.bbb.org/alaskaoregonwesternwashington/charities-donors/about-us/bbb-foundation/bbb-students-of-integrity-scholarship/. Deadline is January 30, 2015. 

Check out the College and Career Center website for more scholarship opportunities and college resources.

Newberg High School students attended Chemeketa's Tri County Automotive Leadership Institute last week. This was a great opportunity to hear from instructors and local dealerships about job growth in the industry. There were break out sessions and presentations on Hybrids, Anti-Lock brakes, Electronics and Diagnostic tools.

Internships are available at Newberg High School!
This is a great way to get started with a company that might lead into a paid position. Internships earn high school credit and also look great on college and scholarship applications. We have multiple positions available ranging from office work, retail, museum tours to a senior activity coordinator. Please pick up an application from Ms. Peterson in the Silver School office.

Newberg V.F.W.  presented Claire Boenisch, a junior,  with a Certificate of Appreciation and a check on Thursday, December 18, 2014.  Congratulations Claire, and thank you V.F.W. for supporting Newberg High School students!

 
“Testing…Testing…Testing…”

Is anyone listening?

We wanted to take a moment and share with Newberg Nation how we are transitioning from OAKS to Smarter Balanced and MAP testing so that you had a little more information as to what, how and why we are conducting these tests in an effort to assist your student.

Beginning this spring Smarter Balanced exams (SBAC) will replace OAKS as our measurement tool of student acquisition of their essential skills (reading, writing and arithmetic). As you know, students in Oregon are required to demonstrate proficiency in these skills as currently measured by OAKS, and now to be measured by SBAC, in order to receive a high school diploma.

In our efforts to support both our students growth toward their successful completion of the SBAC requirement we have implemented a set of periodical exams we call MAP testing. MAP testing will occur for students in the fall, winter and spring of their freshman and sophomore years in an attempt to not only measure their readiness for the SBAC, but to also measure their essential skills growth between each testing interval and provide teachers with immediate feedback on their student progress. That feedback will then help teachers with planning instruction that is aligned to the students test results.

As we entered the winter testing window for MAP this week we wanted to take a moment and inform you of the nature of these tests, their benefits, and encourage you to visit with your student about providing their best effort on these exams as they are an important indicator we will use in helping shape their instruction.

So as the title to this segment of the newsletter says, yes, we will be testing, and yes, we will be listening to those results in an effort to help our students! Thank you for your help and support in this endeavor!

Newberg NationThoughts…

~Principal Risen

On behalf of the staff here at Newberg High, we wish you and yours the happiest of holiday seasons this year!

Flying Tigers…