With the first month under our belt here at MCC, we are now fully in the school routine. This month has been a blur with the hustle and bustle of teacher workshops, student orientations, homecoming, and students getting re-acclimated to classes, studying, and staying organized. It is good to have the hallways full of students again with their energy and excitement to be at school! I think their excitement speaks volumes about the relationships students have developed with one another as well as with our staff. One of our goals is to have every student connected to at least one caring adult. When this happens students feel more comfortable being at school and are more successful in there learning. I would say that we are off to a great start here at MCC.
During the last board meeting I gave a report on our MCA (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment) scores, and I would like to briefly address those here. As we look at our scores district wide, we continue to score higher than the state average in all assessed areas- reading, math and science. In fact, when we compare our proficiency scores to the schools in our area of southwest Minnesota, we rank in the top two. Our teachers continue to work hard to look at ways of incorporating high quality instructional strategies that will help students better understand the material they are learning. Murray County Central continues to maintain a high standard of academic excellence as measured by our state MCAs. District proficiency scores are close to the 70% mark in reading and math, and these are good numbers.
While the numbers for this year are positive overall, there is always room for improvement. As a district we want to model continuous improvement by setting goals to help us grow incrementally and maintain our standard of excellence. This year when our district Q-comp committee met and reviewed the data, we decided to focus on math at both the elementary and high schools. We are discussing strategies for how to incorporate mathematical thinking across the curriculum, as mathematical reasoning and critical thinking is not limited to working with numbers. We will be meeting in our Professional Learning Communities next week to continue refining our practice to help students grow in this area.
As we move forward this year, I want you to know that I look forward to working with our community to help make our schools the best place they can be. It truly takes all of us working together to develop the potential in every student. Thank you for your support.
Go Rebels!
Jake Scandrett
HS Principal
Murray County Central