Adam Terasinski | Copy Editor
The school’s five year improvement project in writing has
seen significant success according to the external review and the steering
committee.
Five years ago the school decided to work on improving
students’ writing in all classes.. Since 2011, teachers have included more
writing in their assignments.. In addition to this, a writing assessment was
given during the second semester to the student body to track improvement.
“Our main goal, the writing goal, has shown that writing has
improved in a variety of different classes,” Sister Carol Jean VanDenHemel,
O.S.B. said. VanDenHemel was part of the steering committee, which spearheaded
the writing project. Her duties were to score the assessments and write the
written report about the projects goals with English teacher, Eileen Sullivan.
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| The AdvancED group spent hours writing up their observastions in the conference room. photo by Adam Terasinski |
The written reports were accompanied by a series of graphs
and charts. Looking at the statistical data alone, I could tell that our
writing scores have improved,” said Curriculum Director Jason Mackeprang, who
converted the reports into data.
The statistical data and written reports are considered
“hard artifacts” that show the school’s progress. These artifacts were one
piece of a comprehensive report given to a group from AdvancEd, a national
accrediting organization comprised of state and local officials.
“Two of the representatives are from the state itself and
the others are nominated by Mount Michael,” said VanDenHemel. The school sought
to nominate people who had a background working with Catholic Schools in the
area.
While writing was the main goal, it was not the only area
that AdvancED evaluated. Group members observed classrooms and also interviewed
many students to grasp an idea of what it is like being a student at Mount
Michael.
“They were impressed most by our students and spoke very
highly of the work our students do,” VanDenHemel said, “they got the impression
that our students know why they are here and that made us [the faculty] very
happy.”
In terms of improvement, the committee did note that
technology is an area of weakness for the school.
“It’s more than computers though,” Mackeprang said, “it’s
the staff’s development with technology and incorporating all of that into the
classroom effectively.
Head of School David Peters has been working to hire a full
time head of technology in an effort to remedy some of the technological
issues. The final decision will be announced in the coming months.
In addition to technology, the next area of focus will
likely to come from surveys that students fill out. While the five year period
focusing on improved writing has ended, writing will still be incorporated
across the school’s curriculum and measured with the assessment currently in
place.
