Reading assessments, personnel changes for school board
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Recent results from elementary reading assessments, upcoming parent-teacher conferences and personnel changes were among topics of discussion the regular meeting of the Mount Ayr Community Schools board of directors Monday, October 12.
Reading assessments
Elementary principal Chris Elwood presented results from the fall FAST assessments in his building.
The Curriculum-Based Measurement (CMB-r) for Reading is a one-minute assessment that targets reading fluency.
The percentage of students reaching grade-level CMB-r proficiency included:
2nd grade 30%
3rd grade 46%
4th grade 52%
5th grade 58%
6th grade 50%
The Adaptive Reading assessment measures a broad range of reading skills. including concepts of print, phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, and vocabulary.
The percentage of students reaching grade-level Adaptive Reading proficiency included:
2nd grade 45%
3rd grade 49%
4th grade 58%
5th grade 68%
6th grade 59%
While the percentages on both tests were lower than those at the beginning of last school year, Elwood said he had expected a decline in these first assessments due to the missed classroom instruction from the fourth quarter last year.
Personnel
Two personnel changes affecting athletics were approved by the board at Monday’s meeting.
First, the board accepted the resignation of Chris Elwood as head varsity baseball coach. The district will seek to fill both the head and assistant baseball coaching positions prior to the beginning of the 2021 season.
Second, the board approved a restructuring of the varsity track coaching positions. At the recommendation of activities director Scott Giles, one head coach will now cover both boys and girls track. Three assistant coaches will be hired rather than one for each team.
Parent conferences
Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, October 27 and Thursday, October 29 running from 3-7 p.m. both days.
Conferences in both the elementary and 7-12 buildings will be held in person in the teachers’ classrooms.
Parents and staff members will be required to wear masks while in the buildings. Those unwilling to wear a mask may have their conferences held virtually or by phone.
Other business
In other business the board:
• approved the purchase and professional installation of eight Bose speakers and accompanying equipment to enhance the PA system in the high school gym. The cost of the project is $12,808.41 with service coming from Iowa Audio/Visual from Clive.
• learned a session of driver’s education is scheduled to begin November 5 with classwork to be completed prior to Thanksgiving. The driving portion of the class will completed after the holiday. A parent meeting will be held virtually via Zoom prior to the beginning of the class at a date and time to be determined. Currently 24 MACHS students have expressed interest in the class as have others in surrounding districts.
• learned that 30 new iPads will allow one-to-one access for all students in grades K-3. A new iPad cart has been donated by Graceland University to store the new iPads.
• learned in a report from superintendent Jason Shaffer that the Mount Ayr school district is in good financial condition
