Learning, Leading, and Community
Mrs. Filson's Page
Welcome to Bluffs School.
WE MADE AYP!
August 27, 2010
We have begun a new school year together with the theme of "Building on Each Student's Foundation." If you were on campus for our first day, you couldn't have missed our faculty and staff in their bright construction t-shirts and hard hats!
In education we have this unique opportunity to start, stop, and reflect upon our work before we start again. Allow me to share some of our reflections.
We experienced great success at Bluffs Community Schools last year and are committed to the continued effort of school improvement and academic and behavioral achievement for all students. Our elementary, junior high, and district once again made AYP which was no small feat since the bar is continually rising, 77.5% last year and 85% for this school year. We experienced tremendous success with BLAAST (Bluffs Learning and Applying Success Tools) at the junior and senior high level. When we identified areas of weakness for students and supplied them with direct targeted instruction addressing those weaknesses, we witnessed phenomenal results. This year BLAAST will be at the beginning of the day for all Bluffs students, elementary included, as this is a key component of our Response to Intervention plan. Utilizing a Standards Aligned Curriculum, we made sure that students knew what they were to learn by providing learning targets and then designing activities to help them hit their target. We felt that students can and should take responsibility for their learning and this belief led to increased student accountability and performance. The student data binders were utilized to keep students focused on their goals and achievments and were used in student led conferences last fall. We will continue using the student data binders and will expand on their usefulness in goal-setting.
At Bluffs, we have clear behavior expectations (Respect Yourself, Others, Property, and Time) and implement positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS). At the elementary level, this is called Paws and Claws and this year we have a revised Medal Pride for grades 7-12 that will motivate even more students to be successful at school. Last year, we piloted Check-In Check-Out with several students and saw outstanding results. This year, we will further develop this Tier II system of student support.
We have demonstrated what a small group of committed people can do when they set their minds to it. I am so proud of our students and all of us here in Bluffs! We plan to keep on getting better at what we are already doing well and use feedback from parents, students, test results, progress monitoring, etc. to find out what we can do better and then - get better!
As we enter into what may be one of the most difficult times in the history of education in our state, we here at Bluffs want to encourage you to continue supporting our school in "Building on Each Student's Foundation" - this year's theme.
Sincerely,
Roxanne Filson, Principal
Bluffs Community Schools
