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Education
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Written by Jesse Trimble
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 09:00 |
Tears streamed down third grade teacher Sarah Lohse’s face last week, after USD 416 Superintendent Sharon Zoellner and a team of the school district’s staff surprised her in the middle of class and recognized her as the district’s elementary Kansas Teacher of the Year nominee. 
Jackie Tappan was nominated for the secondary education category.
Lohse, who happened to be wearing a paper hat that resembled the Cat in the Hat’s from the Dr. Seuss book, burst into tears as she accepted flowers in front of her third-grade students.
Zoellner announced that the students of the nominated teacher would also be treated — with cookies.
“Cookies!” several shouted in unison.
“She should be teacher of the century,” one remarked.
Lohse said she always knew she wanted to be a teacher and that she’s always been a teacher at heart.
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Education
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Written by Aaron Cedeño
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Wednesday, 03 March 2010 09:00 |
When it comes to state assessment testing, times sure have changed in recent years. 
Gone are the days of No. 2 pencils and bubble sheets. No longer are thick packets of tests sent off to grading centers before the results are mailed back.
Like many schools throughout the country, Broadmoor Elementary School is in the first stages of state assessment testing for the 2009-2010 academic year. And thanks to the computer program through which the tests are now administered, educators can see preliminary results almost as soon as each student finishes his or her test.
So, the big question is, how are BES students doing so far?
“The preliminary results we’ve seen so far have been promising,” said BES principal Chris McLean. “But that’s par for the course here, I think.”
The quick results are just one advantage afforded by the technology, McLean explained. In addition to providing an early snapshot of overall performance, they allow teachers to continue to refine their curriculum in accordance with the strengths and weaknesses of each student.
There are benefits for those taking the tests as well. In recent years, the state has allowed teachers to administer formative exams — essentially practice tests — via the same software used for the real thing. That familiarity allows the students to become more comfortable with the format and the environment.
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Education
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Written by Aaron Cedeño
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Wednesday, 24 February 2010 09:00 |
The month of March is crawling ever close, and for area schools that means the arrival of Kansas State Assessment tests.
Students from Broadmoor Elementary School, Louisburg Middle School and Louisburg High School will trade classrooms for computer labs and textbooks for keyboards, as they put a year’s worth of learning to the test.
Louisburg schools have typically performed exceedingly well on the tests, which were enacted as a part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Under the act, public schools in the United States must see their students achieve an increasing standard of performance each year — dubbed Adequate Yearly Progress — until 2014, when they will be expected to achieve 100-percent proficiency in the areas of mathematics and reading.
In 2009, Louisburg USD 416 achieved AYP, as did each of the schools tested within the district. Chris McLean, Broadmoor Elementary School principal, sees no reason to believe that trend won’t continue this year.
“I have no doubt,” he said, when asked if he felt his students would test well. “Judging by the history of the scores and seeing every day, how much time and effort their teachers and students getting ready and learning, I have no doubt our students will do pretty well.”
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Education
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Written by Aaron Cedeño
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 09:00 |
When Ashley Weaver enrolled at Peoria Street Learning Center at the start of the 2008-2009 academic year, she knew she wanted to take advantage of the school’s option to graduate early. 
It was always part of the plan, she said, for a number of reasons. But even she couldn’t have predicted why earning her degree a few months early would be such a blessing.
Not only is Weaver able to get a head start on focusing on her future, but she’s able to spend time with her grandfather during his ongoing battle with cancer.
“If I was still trying to get school finished, I think it would just be so much stress,” Weaver said. “Now it’s a relief (to be done), and I can focus on other things.”
Though the option is still new to PSLC, Weaver’s positive experience is already becoming common, said Becky Golba, one of the alternative school’s teachers.
On Dec. 17, Weaver and three of her fellow students — Shelby Joeckel, Pamela Leach and Richard Stokes — all formally completed their high school education. Joeckel and Weaver attended a small graduation ceremony at the school with teachers, friends, parents and district administrators in attendance.
The school has offered students the chance to graduate early for two years now, Golba said, and it’s an option the PSLC staff actively promotes. The reasoning for it is two-fold.
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Education
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Written by Aaron Cedeño
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Wednesday, 03 February 2010 09:00 |
For Brian Biermann, there’s an easy way to tell if the Student of the Month award is achieving its desired goal.  All he has to do is listen to his students at the end of every month, when the excitement and interest is readily apparent. “How do I get to be Student of the Month?” they ask him, time and time again. And Biermann’s reply is always the same. “I tell them ‘If you want to know how to be the Student of the Month, just listen to what I read,’” said Biermann, Louisburg Middle School principal. As he stood on stage Friday and the entire school assembled in the auditorium before him, there was an air of theatricality about the event. By design, the winners are kept in the dark until the moment before they are called on stage, though their parents and family members are notified in advance. One by one, Biermann called their names, a boy and a girl from each of the grade levels, to the excited cheers of their classmates. |
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