Lincoln Elementary Annual Report for 2010-2011

We are pleased to present you with the Annual Education Report (AER) which provides key information on the 2010-2011 educational progress for Lincoln Elementary. The AER addresses the complex reporting information required by federal and state laws. The school’s report contains information about student assessment, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and teacher quality. If you have any questions about the AER, please contact Principal Tom DeGraaf for assistance.

 

Lincoln once again made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in language arts and mathematics! We are extremely pleased to have attained this important goal, receiving a composite grade of “A” in both subject areas based on our state assessment results. Although the state sets our curriculum and Grade Level Content Expectations, we continue to strive to find better delivery methods and resources to support every child’s education. The continued support of parents, staff and community in this yearly goal is greatly appreciated.

 

 

Lincoln Elementary continues to be considered a Title 1 school, providing specialized supports to students that qualify for both academic and social support. We have been able to retain our staff over the past couple years with minimal movement within the school, with enrollment being at 419 students at the conclusion of the year. Our student population primarily rolls up from our Early Childhood Center, and upon completing 5^th grade, our students feed primarily into Cityside Middle School. Out of district students are also accepted in Zeeland Public Schools and are placed at schools based on classroom availability. Administration makes every effort to balance class sizes across the district and out of district admissions help allow this to happen. This past year, 9% of Lincoln students came from out of district this past year. Lincoln is designed to be a “3 section” building for each grade level, but due to high numbers of boundary area students and additional out of district students, our 1^st and 3^rd grades required 4 sections. This will lead to needing to move staff each following year to accommodate these “bubbles of students”.  

 

The parent connection to our building continues to be an essential component to our students’ success. Our BRIDGE volunteer program logged 498 different volunteers contributing 3,024.5 hours of support service to our students and staff. Our Lincoln staff so appreciate all the work the volunteers do, both in the school, and behind the scenes from their homes. In addition to the engineers from JCI in Holland who helped run science simulations…we want to send out a huge “Thank You” to our parents, grandparents, KIDS Hope mentors, and community members who care for and work with the kids at Lincoln!

Our parents continue to show their support and connection to learning through our annual fall parent – teacher conference event. 98% of our parents attended their scheduled conferences, and the 2% that couldn’t make it in were conference via phone. It is imperative that parents and teachers work in unison to maximize the learning success for each student! Way to go Lincoln parents!

In addition to the core curriculum, which can be accessed through our school’s website, Zeeland’s five character traits; Trustworthiness, Generosity, Respect, Responsibility, and Good Citizenship are addressed and taught in grade specific lessons at Lincoln. Being a neighborhood school, we stress the importance of community and unity, and on Fridays we have “Lincoln Pride Days” where students and staff are encouraged to wear their favorite Lincoln clothing…often being rewarded during lunch by Mr. De Graaf and Mr. VanDam for showing school spirit. To strengthen the sense of community between Lincoln families, Mr. De Graaf and our Family and Friends Parent group plans outings every other month.  

 

A clear difference you will see at Lincoln, is our recess/lunch schedule. Our 1^st and 2^nd graders have most of their “special classes” in the afternoon and therefore only get a morning recess break in addition to their lunch period. Our 3^rd-5^th graders have most of their “specials” in the morning, and therefore only have a recess break in the afternoon. All students break for lunch from 12:00-12:45 with some grades going out to play while the other grades are eating. Then midway through this time, the groups change and those that ate first go outside and those outside come in to eat. This schedule allows for more collaboration time between teachers across all grade levels and provides more large chunks of uninterrupted instructional time during the day. This change has also helped improve student attitudes about going outside since there are only half as many students using the playground and they are of the same grade. Data has shown this change has cut down on the number of recess interventions/referrals over the past two years! 

 

A final strength of Lincoln’s is our RtI (response to instruction) approach. We believe in giving “second and third shots” of instruction to students who don’t meet benchmark when assessed on grade level screeners. 

We are in the second year of the current school improvement cycle, continuing to collect and analyze data on national, state, and local assessments. Since we are a Title 1 school, we are required to have goals in each of the 5 academic areas. Gaps have shown unequal growth in the sub-groups areas of free and reduced compared to non-free and reduced, and then special needs compared to non-special needs students. These gaps are what we are focusing our improvement efforts in, hopefully narrowing the gaps of the rate of achievement. 

 

Vision Statement:

EMPOWER every learner to DISCOVER their full potential to IMPACT the world around them. 

 

Mission Statement:

The mission of Lincoln School is to promote learning as a lifelong process by challenging students in a positive, secure and success-oriented environment, based on mutual respect among children, parents and school personnel. 

 

Goals:

All students will increase achievement in writing.

All students will increase achievement in math computation.

All students will increase in reading achievement.

All students will be proficient in science.

All students will increase achievement in the area of social studies.

 

 

 

Zeeland Public Schools makes sure our students are provided challenging lessons that are consistent across grade levels.  A team of Zeeland educators regularly evaluates and revises our curriculum to ensure that classroom lessons meet state requirements for kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Besides a rigorous curriculum, our district has implemented learner goals for all students.  These goals frame what we expect our students to accomplish by the time they graduate from Zeeland Public Schools.

If you have questions about Zeeland Public Schools' curriculum, please contact us at 616-748-3004 or e-mail Administrative Assistant Alice Chidester.

 

 

On district 2010 Rigby Running Record Assessments:

96% of 1^st graders are at or above grade level benchmark 16.

86%of 2^nd graders are at or above grade level benchmark 22.

77% of 3^rd graders are at or above grade level benchmark 25.

85% of 4^th graders are at or above grade level benchmark 28.

88% of 5^th graders are at or above grade level benchmark 30.

 

 

 

2010 Iowa Test of Basic Skills – 3^rd Graders (January)

Average “Grade Equivalency” for specific areas based on 96 students tested:

Reading Vocabulary                3.8

Reading Comprehension         3.8

Reading Total                          3.8

Language Total                        3.3

Math Problem Solving            3.7

Math Computation                 3.4

Math Total                             3.5

Science                                    4.0

Social Studies                          4.1

Composite Score                     3.7