Bearcat Wrap-up Podcast - Week 21: Our Academic Picture is Getting Clearer

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Happy Friday!Thank you all for your hard work and dedication this week. Your tireless efforts to support our students, collaborate, and pursue excellence in your classrooms and beyond are the cornerstone of our district's success. Together, we continue to work toward meeting and exceeding our performance targets, a goal that drives our daily work and our long-term vision for student achievement and community confidence.This week, we received a significant update: the state department has calculated and released our district's and state's growth scores based on the ATLAS test, finally providing us with a concrete measure of our progress. These scores offer valuable insights into the impact of our collective work and the areas where we can continue to grow, reflect, and improve. This will be the focus of this week’s Wrap-up.English Language Arts Performance Over TimeThis chart reflects our district’s growth performance in English Language Arts (ELA) over the past three years and we are moving in the right direction. It is important to note that in the 2022 and 2023 school years, students were assessed using the ACT Aspire test, while the ATLAS exam was introduced in 2024. This change in assessment tools provides us with a more precise and detailed measure of growth, which we see as both a positive step and a challenge. While the data reveals progress in our district’s performance last year, the transition to a new assessment highlights the need to ensure alignment between our instruction and the grade-level standards. We will also use the individual student data to further examine and adjust our interventions for those students who are still not reading on grade level. Our goals for literacy are still beyond these results; so, moving forward, our strategy will focus on digging deeply into the student data provided by ATLAS to pinpoint specific student needs and identify gaps in our instruction. This reflective and data-driven approach will guide our efforts to ensure continued growth and achievement in ELA for all students.Math Performance Over TimeThis chart highlights a significant accomplishment for our district: we made a substantial increase in math growth compared to 2023, a success we can all be proud of. This progress reflects the hard work of our teachers and students as we continue adapting to the grade-level standards and refining our instructional practices. While this growth is a positive step forward, we also recognize the challenge of receiving these scores more than halfway through the school year, limiting our ability to make timely adjustments before starting this school year. Looking ahead, the ATLAS results for this year will be available over the summer, allowing us to better plan and strategize for the 2025-2026 school year.To build on this momentum, we are utilizing a professional learning grant from the state department to provide targeted math support. This includes adding math coaches and collaborating with our local cooperative and other agencies. These resources will help teachers explore data more effectively, identify student needs, and refine lesson plans to address instructional gaps. With this support, we are confident that we can continue fostering growth and ensuring student success in math.Science Performance Over TimeThis chart demonstrates an impressive upward trend in our district’s science growth scores over the past three years. The significant gains made in 2024 reflect the dedication of our teachers and students and highlight the district’s growing focus on science education. This progress is especially meaningful as we prepare our students to thrive in a future where STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers will play an increasingly vital role in our economy. By strengthening science education, we are not only improving academic outcomes but also equipping students with the skills and knowledge needed to access high-demand career opportunities that will contribute to the long-term prosperity of our community.As we look ahead, we remain committed to enhancing science instruction and utilizing student data to identify areas of strength and need. This targeted approach will ensure that we continue to build on this momentum, fostering a culture of curiosity, innovation, and achievement in the sciences. Together, we are preparing our students to be active contributors to the growth and success of our local and global economy.The Work AheadAs we reflect on these results, let us take a moment to congratulate each other on the growth we are seeing across all areas. These accomplishments are a testament to your commitment, hard work, and unwavering belief in our ability to move forward together. With 75 learning days left in the semester, we have an incredible opportunity to make every day, hour, and minute count. Each moment is a step toward overcoming the deficiencies that still exist, and each effort builds on the foundation we are laying for our students' success.To achieve our goals, we must remain focused on using data to drive instruction. This means examining the information at hand, identifying areas of need, and implementing targeted, evidence-based strategies to meet those needs. By staying aligned with our mission and vision, we can ensure that our efforts are purposeful and impactful. Together, we are not only improving outcomes for our students today but also preparing them for a future where they can thrive as confident, capable contributors to our community and beyond. Let us continue this important work with determination and pride in all that we have accomplished so far.ClosingThis week, we proudly celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of our Bearcats across a variety of activities and programs. Our wrestling team continues to dominate the mat, showcasing skill, perseverance, and sportsmanship. The basketball teams are making us proud with their grit and determination on the court, representing Mena with passion and excellence. Our indoor track athletes performed well giving us a glimpse at the upcoming track season. In academics, our Quiz Bowl team demonstrated their sharp intellect and teamwork, earning recognition for their outstanding performance. Our FFA, FCCLA, and FBLA chapters are excelling in leadership and career-focused competitions, preparing our students for bright futures while bringing home impressive accolades. Meanwhile, our theatre department continues to shine, producing our latest Young Playwright, Norah Williams, and showcasing creativity, hard work, and commitment to the arts. Each of these victories highlights the talent and dedication of our students and the unwavering support of their coaches, advisors, and families. Congratulations to everyone involved in these achievements—you embody the spirit of Bearcat excellence!It was a good week at Mena Public Schools.At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.Keep the #menareads posts and videos coming and have a nice weekend! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bearcatwrap.substack.com

Good afternoon and welcome to the week 21 wrap up entitled our academic pictures getting clearer. Our districts and states growth scores from Atlas have been calculated, finally providing us with a measure for the progress we are making. Happy Friday. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication this week. Your tireless efforts to support our students, collaborate, pursue excellence in your classrooms, and beyond are the cornerstone of our district's success. Together we continue to work toward meeting and exceeding our performance targets, a goal that drives our daily work and our long-term vision for student achievement and community confidence. This week we received a significant update. The State Department has calculated and released our districts and states growth scores

based on the ATLAS test finally providing us with a concrete measure for our progress. These scores offer valuable insights into the impact of our collective work in the areas where we can continue to grow, reflect, and improve. This will be the focus of this week's wrap-up. Starting with English language arts performance over time. If you're listening only, there are graphs in the content that you would probably want to look at to understand exactly what I'm talking about. But in English language arts, the chart that's in the text reflects our district's growth and performance in ELA over the past three years, and we are moving in the right direction. It is important to note that in 2022 and 2023 school years, students were assessed using the ACT Aspire Test

while the Atlas exam was introduced in 2024. This change in assessment tools provides us with a more precise and detailed measure of growth, which we see as both positive, as a positive step and a challenge. While the data reveals progress in our district's performance last year, the transition to a new assessment highlights

the need to ensure alignment between our instruction and the grade level standards. We will also use the individual student data to further examine and adjust our interventions for those students who are still not reading on grade level. Our goals for literacy are still beyond these results. So moving forward, our strategy will focus on digging deeply into the student data provided by Atlas to pinpoint specific student needs and identify gaps in our instruction.

This reflective and data-driven approach will guide our efforts to ensure continued growth and achievement in ELA for all students. Math Performance Over Time Again, there's a chart for mathematics. This chart highlights a significant accomplishment for our district. We made a substantial increase in math growth compared to 2023, a success that we can all be proud of. This progress reflects the hard work of our teachers and students as we continue adapting to grade level standards and refining our instructional practices. While this growth is a positive step forward, we also recognize the challenge of receiving these scores more than halfway through the school year, limiting our ability to make timely adjustments before starting this school year.

Looking ahead, the Atlas results for this year will be available over the summer, allowing us to better plan and strategize for the 2025-2026 school year. To build on this momentum, we are utilizing a professional learning grant from the State Department to provide targeted math support. This includes adding math coaches and collaborating with our local cooperative and other agencies. These resources will help teachers explore data more effectively, identify student needs, and refine lessons to address instructional gaps. With this support, we are confident that we can continue fostering growth and ensuring student success in math. Science Performance Over Time The chart in the text demonstrates an impressive

upward trend in our district's science growth scores over the past three years. The significant gains made in 2024 reflect the dedication of our teachers and students and highlight the district's growing focus on science education. This progress is especially meaningful as we prepare our students to thrive in a future where STEM, that's science, technology, engineering, and math careers, will play an increasingly vital role in our economy. will play an increasingly vital role in our economy. By strengthening science education, we are not only improving academic outcomes, but also equipping students with the skills and knowledge

needed to access high demand career opportunities that will contribute to the long term prosperity of our community. As we look ahead, we remain committed to enhancing science instruction and utilizing that student data to identify areas of strength and need. This targeted approach will ensure

that we continue to build on this momentum, fostering a culture of curiosity, innovation, and achievement in the sciences. Together, we are preparing our students to be active contributors to the growth and success of our local and global economy. As we reflect on all of these results, let us take a moment to congratulate each other on the growth we are seeing across all areas.

These accomplishments are a testament to your commitment, hard work, and unwavering belief in our ability to move forward together. With 75 days left in the learning days left in the semester, we have an incredible opportunity to make every day, hour, and minute count. Each moment is a step toward overcoming deficiencies that still exist, and each effort builds on the foundation we are laying for our students' success.

To achieve our goals, we must remain focused on using data to drive instruction. This means examining the information at hand, identifying areas of need, and implementing targeted, evidence-based strategies to meet those needs. By staying aligned with our mission and vision, we can ensure that our efforts are purposeful and impactful. Together, we are not only improving outcomes for our students today, but also preparing them for a future where they can thrive as confident, capable contributors to our community and beyond.

Let us continue this important work with determination and pride in all that we have accomplished so far. In closing, this week we proudly celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of our Bearcats across a variety of activities and programs. Our wrestling team continues to dominate the mat, showcasing skill, perseverance, and sportsmanship. Basketball teams are making us proud with their grit and determination on the court, representing MENA with passion and excellence. Our indoor track athletes perform well, giving us a glimpse at the upcoming track season. And academics, our Quiz Bowl team demonstrated their sharp intellect and teamwork, earning recognition for their outstanding performance. Our FFA, FCCLA, and FBLA chapters are excelling in leadership and career-focused competitions,

preparing our students for bright futures while bringing home impressive accolades. Meanwhile, our theater department continues to shine, producing our latest young playwright, Nora Williams, and showcasing creativity, hard work, and commitment to the arts. Each of these victories highlights the talent and dedication of our students and the unwavering support of their coaches, advisors, and families.

Congratulations to everyone involved in these achievements. You embody the spirit of Bearcat excellence. It was a good week at Meadow Public Schools. At Meena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident. Keep the Mena Reads posts and videos coming and have a nice weekend.