Check out the latest AHS TV Broadcast.
Spanish II Students
SPANISH 2 STUDENTS
SET UP MARKET TO BUY & SELL
Mrs. Koepke's Spanish 2 students engaged in a learning activity where they set up a market in class to sell and buy goods.
Rumor has it some of Arrowhead's finest got creative in negotiating deals with some bartering going on - always looking for a deal. ;~)
Students had fake Euros to use, they made signs and brought in actual products to sell.
The entire activity was conducted with students speaking Spanish and from the pictures it appears all had a great time.
NY Times Article Education Reform
Grading or Degrading?
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| Click on picture to access article |
The New York Times published an opinion piece by Michael Brick providing his insights on the current "education reforms" and his views of the potential impact of these reforms on our schools and young people.
Brick takes a look at the situation in Texas, which he calls "nobody's model of educational excellence", where there is a long history of using complex algorithms to assign grades (exemplary, recognized, acceptable, or unacceptable) to Texas schools.
"So far, such competition has achieved little more than re-segregation, long charter school waiting lists and the same anemic international rankings in science, math and literacy we've had for years."
Interesting read and an issue worth our attention. It is imperative, for the benefit of our students and in being vigilant in maximizing our resources (e.g. staff, finances), that we evaluate and make determinations, responding in a thoughtful, productive, and proactive manner, rather than being reactionary.
Arrowhead Science Team
SCIENCE TEAM TAKES 1st PLACE
Congratulations to the Arrowhead Science Team and their advisor Mrs. Cheri Kaiser for taking first place at the Opportunities Conference Science Competition at MSOE on November 20th. Twenty teams of eight participated from Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Team members are:
Congratulations to the Arrowhead Science Team and their advisor Mrs. Cheri Kaiser for taking first place at the Opportunities Conference Science Competition at MSOE on November 20th. Twenty teams of eight participated from Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Team members are:
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| Members of the AHS Science Team |
| Strange, Max |
| Tschurwald, Griffin |
| Filmanowicz, John |
| Stoner, Kaitlin |
| Van Gilder, Andrew |
| McColl, Parker |
| Osowski, Stephan |
| Schneider, Nathan Bednarki, Zack |
Medal winners in general science were Andrew Van Gilder and Zach Bednarki
Medal winner in Chemistry was Max Strange
Medal winners in Physics were Parker McColl and Zach Bednarki
Medal Winners in Biology were Griffin Tschurwald and Katlin Stoner.
Top overall scorers at the event were Griffin Tschurwald, John Filmanowicz, and Zach Bednarke.
Medal winner in Chemistry was Max Strange
Medal winners in Physics were Parker McColl and Zach Bednarki
Medal Winners in Biology were Griffin Tschurwald and Katlin Stoner.
Top overall scorers at the event were Griffin Tschurwald, John Filmanowicz, and Zach Bednarke.
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| Members of the AHS Science Team |
Key Club Service to our Community
Key Club Holiday Festival
Help Arrowhead Key Club help our community this holiday season! The Key Club will be collecting non-perishable food items for Stone Bank Food Pantry on Saturday, December 1, from 12 to 3:30 PM. New toys and monetary donations are appreciated as well. Please leave food in plastic bags on your doorstep or stop by Arrowhead High School North Campus.
Inclement Weather
INCLEMENT WEATHER - Impacting the operations of schools
With the potential for inclement winter weather just around the corner, I wanted to share with you avenues for determining if the weather has impacted school operations. The following are the means that will be used to communicate with parents, students, and staff:
Communication Tool Approximate Time to Process
Parent Connect Phone Call (Sky Alert) Depending on system usage (@15 min.)
District Web-site: http://www.arrowheadschools.org/ @10 minutes after decision is made
Television Stations in the order they are contacted:
Sincerely,
Craig Jefson
District Phone Message System: 262-369-3611 @ 10 minutes after decision is made.
Local Television Stations & Web-sites Dependent on individual stations
(approximately 15 to 30 minutes)
- WISN 12: http://wisn
- CBS 58: http://www.cbs58.com/
- TODAY’S TMJ4: http://www.todaystmj4.com/
- FOX 6: http://fox6now.com/
Arrowhead is responsible for determining school delays and cancellations for all Arrowhead K-8 feeder schools. Decisions are based on gathering information from a variety of weather services, neighboring school districts, and local resources (DOT, Dousman Transportation, law enforcement, county, etc.). Every effort is made to obtain the most accurate information in making a determination of whether to run school. As always, the final decision of whether it is safe enough for your child to travel to school is yours, the parent. If a determination is made that school is in session and as a parent you do not want your child traveling to school, you should call school and ask that your child be excused for the day.
Being an optimist and because I prefer not to get up at 3:00 a.m. here’s hoping for another winter like we had last year.
Craig Jefson
Arrowhead Superintendent
Letter to AHS Parents: State Report Card
Dear AHS Parents,
The new State Report Cards were released on October 22, 2012. You can access the Report Card for any school in the state by going to the Department of Public Instruction web-site under the Accountability Reform tab at the following URL: http://dpi.wi.gov/oea/acct/accountability.html and clicking on the 2011-2012 School Report Cards icon.
The State Report Cards are complex and it requires significant effort to truly understand the overall performance of our school. The Report Card data is limited to the State Test Scores (WKCE), ACT data, and graduation data. Although these sources of information are important, they do not give a complete picture of our school and students’ performance. Arrowhead High School received an “Overall Accountability” score of 80.2, which is defined as “Exceeds Expectations.”
As a brief review of the Arrowhead High School Report Card the following information may provide a general overview of the performance of our students based on the information contained in the report card:
- Overall Achievement score for AHS is 80.2, Exceeds Expectations.
- Kohler High School had the highest score in the state with a 92.
- Arrowhead’s score was the 20th highest out of 465 high schools in the state.
- Student Achievement score for AHS is 90.7 compared to the state average of 66.5.
- Whitefish Bay had the highest score in the state with a 92.2.
- Arrowhead’s score was the 2nd highest out of 465 high schools in the state.
- Closing Gaps score for AHS is 62.2 compared to the state average of 68.3.
- Arrowhead was identified as a Focus School by the DPI.
- More detailed information regarding the identification can be found on the school district’s blog at: http://thearrowheadschools.blogspot.com/.
- There are three recent posts, along with several other posts explaining the DPI’s new accountability system, which can all be found on the district blog.
- On-Track and Postsecondary Readiness score for AHS is 91.5 compared to the state average of 82.3.
- Pepin High School had the highest score in the state with a 96.7.
- Arrowhead’s score was the 27th highest out of 465 high schools in the state.
- Wisconsin State Assessment System Percent Proficient and Advanced 2011-2012 scores for AHS are the following:
- Percent of students who are proficient and advanced in Reading at Arrowhead High School is 67.7%, which is 5th highest of state high schools (Whitefish Bay was the highest with 75.7%).
- Percent of students who are proficient and advanced in Math at Arrowhead High School is 73.3%, which is 3rd highest of state high schools (Kohler was the highest with 81.6%).
This information is provided after a brief review of the data provided by the DPI. It is provided only to give Arrowhead parents a general idea of how our school and students have performed based on the State Report Card. As a school system we will be looking at this information in much more detail, however since this information has been released publically, I felt that it was important to provide some context for you as a parent of a student at AHS.
Can we get better? Absolutely! However, the DPI report(s) are not in enough detail that a school district should respond with any actions, without first truly working to understand what is being reported. Arrowhead High School, having had the opportunity to explore further the DPI report(s), as part of the Focus School identification, has been able to examine the data and make some determinations that will better position our school district to address any areas in need of improvement. It is imperative, for the benefit of our students and in being vigilant in maximizing our resources (e.g. staff, finances), that we evaluate and make determinations, responding in a thoughtful, productive, and proactive manner, rather than in a reactionary manner.
Arrowhead welcomes the opportunity to gather information and to look for ways we can improve the learning experiences for our students and to better meet the individual educational needs of our young people. Arrowhead has largely built a strong reputation for high student academic, co/extra-curricular, and community service outcomes for young people based on having outstanding students, highly dedicated and skilled professionals, and strong community support. The new accountability standards present an opportunity for our school district to challenge our organization to become better.
We welcome your questions and comments. Please feel free to contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Craig Jefson
Arrowhead Superintendent
