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Holt Crossing Intermediate
Rated a School of Excellence
by the Ohio Department of Education
2009-2010
Principal: Linda Kuhn
Assistant Principal: Gary Rawson
Secretaries: Cindy Burns & Michele Schrecengost
Holt Crossing Mission:
All will learn and achieve individual excellence now for success in the future. |
Our Vision Statement In the year 2014, Holt Crossing Intermediate is a School of Excellence. Holt Crossing is a safe environment, where students feel free to learn, grow, share and gain experiences to help them succeed. Parents are welcomed into the school and share in the educational process. They feel confident their children receive a quality education at Holt Crossing. Every day, learners participate in student-centered experiential learning designed to help them discover
and apply concepts using critical thinking skills. Students are taught in ways that have been proven by research to be most effective. Teachers are involved in action research to identify and develop additional effective strategies for learning. Self-directed teachers work collaboratively on issues that directly impact student learning: determine essential understandings in content areas, create or identify assessments to use as data for determining next steps and interventions, set specific and measurable goals, read and discuss professional literature, and share student work and standardized grading practices. Students' individual needs are addressed through systematic intervention based on measurable and observable data. |
Excellent Rating!
Just as our students receive report cards, so does our school receive a yearly report card from the State Department of Education. There are a number of ways we are evaluated on our building report card. First, we have the state indicators for each of our tested subjects on the spring Ohio Achievement Tests (OAT). In fifth grade, that is in reading, math, social studies and science. (For the next two schools years, the state has suspended giving the social studies test to fifth graders.) In sixth grade, tests are taken in only reading and math. The state standard is for 75% of our students to reach proficient levels or higher on each of those tests. From last school year, we did not reach 75% for our fifth grade indicators, but did meet at least 75% for both of our sixth grade
indicators. The state also expects 93% or higher attendance rate, and we have always met that indicator. So, we met a total of 3 of the 7 state indicators.
The second way we are evaluated is according to our Performance Index (PI). Student performance on the OAT is labelled according to five levels of student performacnce: Limited, Basic, Proficient, Accelerated, and Advanced. Our goal is to continue to provide support to students to move them to higher levels of achievement each year. The category scores are weighted, with larger weights earned at higher levels of achievement. Our current PI is 90.2 points (out of 120), up from 88 points last year.
The third way we are evaluated is by Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), the federal accountability measure. Schools who have more than 30 students in a subgroup must report student progress in that subgroup, with all subgroups striving to reach the same targets. We report student progress in the following subgroups: All Students, White, African-American, Hispanic, Limited English Proficient (LEP), Individual Education Plans (IEP -- special needs students), and Economically Disadvantaged. There are multiple methods to reach AYP, but every subgroup must make it for both reading and math in order for our building to make AYP. Our students last school year were able to make AYP in each subgroup for both subjects, either by meeting the target, meeting Safe Harbor (10% fewer students were not proficient),
or showing growth according to the federal formula!
Together, these three categories' information gave us an initial rating of Effective on our report card. However, the final measure on our report card is the Value-Added piece. Since we made AYP and because our students have shown a year or more worth of growth each of the last three years, our final rating is elevated to EXCELLENT! Schools who do not make AYP move into the School Improvement process. We are now in School Improvement Year 3 (delay) because we hadn't made AYP the previous years. With our achievement of making AYP this past year, we get to "delay" moving any further into the process. If we make AYP this school year as well, we will move out of the School Improvement process altogether.
We are thrilled with these results! It speaks to the accomplishments of our students, our staff, and our families. Of course, our goal this year is to keep our Excellent rating or to improve it to Excellent with Distinction. Should you be interested in understanding more about our building or district progress, you could access that information at www.ode.gov. Click on State and Local Report Cards, the iLRC (Interactive Local Report Cards), type in Holt Crossing.
Title 1 Designation
Beginning this year, Holt Crossing has been designated a Title 1 school. The designation is based on the percentage of free/reduced students we have in our school. Since we have more than 40% of our students qualify for free/reduced lunch, we have a "School-Wide Title 1" designation. The goal of Title 1 is to help disadvantaged children meet the challenging content and student academic performance standards. Title 1 money is federally funded and actually began as early as 1965, with reauthorizations in 1994 and again with No Child Left Behind in 2002. No Child Left Behind had four parts: accountability for results (testing in grades 3-8), the use of federal education funds on proven research-based teaching and learning practices, and expanded choices for parents.
Holt Crossing is already seeing the benefits of our Title 1 designation through the addition this year of full-time coaches for both literacy and math. Both of our coaches are being trained through Ohio State and will work with our teachers on professional development for the next two school years. Since we are a Title 1 school and are currently in School Improvement Year 3 (delay), we must offer School Choice and Supplemental Education Services (SES). The only intermediate school not currently in School Improvement is Hayes Intermediate and with the numbers of students currently enrolled there, they can accept no more students. So we only have SES to offer. Parents should have received a letter mailed directly to their home from the person overseeing this program. The only students
in our school eligible for FREE Supplemental Services are those with free/reduced lunch status. In addition, you may want to contact your child's teacher to see if they believe this program will further help your child. With our EXCELLENT results from last year, some of our students may not need this level of extra support.
Education News You Can Use
Spring Summer Ohio State Opportunities 2010
“Ohio State Opportunities forspring/summer 2010”available online at http://p12.osu.edu/. Look under the heading What’s New, in the left hand column. This issue contains activities open to K-12 teachers and their students. Some are available at any time during entire school year. Others are one-time activities available during spring and summer.
LiFE Sports Summer Camp
The LiFE Sports Camp is designed to provide 600 youth ages 9-15 from the Columbus area with the opportunity to participate in a FREE four-week summer sports camp. Youth participants play in a variety of sports including soccer, basketball, football, lacrosse, swimming, softball/baseball, volleyball, and social dance. As a requirement for camp participation, all youth are able to access a free health physical.
*Please be sure to visit this site often, as it will be updated frequently with school-related activities, schedules, and announcements.
 Don’t forget to add this page, along with the South-Western Home page (www.swcs.us), to your bookmarks and favorites folders!
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