So tonight was the Forest PTO meeting and I got an opportunity to listen to Superintendent Sicoli.  This being the first time I got to listen/meet with him outside of the normal board room I found him very likeable.  (While proofing this I want everyone to know - what I have seen of Dr. Sicoli so far - good guy!)  There were several questions that came up during the process and one of them was in regards to mobility, school size and Dr. Sicoli shared an interesting stat.  I have to dig into the stats and see if I can verify this one - but there is absolutely no reason not to believe this one.

If you tear back the stats and take out students who have not been enrolled in the district for the past three years.  Each and every school at all levels of AYP measurement would have passed.  Every school.  Every level.  Again, no reason not to believe it.

So what does this tell you?  Mobility is issue #1.  I'm pretty sure this isn't going to shock many people.  This won't shock teachers, administration or parents.  So what do we do about it?  We cannot stop people from moving.

Elementary schools.  Lets start our focus there.  This one will cost some money but I really think we need to rethink our traditional grade level.  In particular for students who enroll mid-year.  Let's asses the students and their current level and lets create some classroom to help these students.  Focused specifically on the areas of need.  If the student tests high - then send them to the normal grade level.  Otherwise, lets do a little clustering and design some programs to help these students.  Win win for the students and the district.

Oh, one other items shared.  Early results from a neighboring school looking at all-day vs half-day K.  Remove the mobility factor and compare.  Achievement gap is nearly gone.  We have the solutions.  Lets get a way to fund them and start to rock and roll.  This is a great district and we should be darn proud of it.