August 18, 2011

Dear Parents and Community Members:

We are pleased to present you with the Annual Education Report (AER) which provides key information on the 2010-2011 educational progress for Ithaca Junior-Senior High School.  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 the principal, Mr. Steven Netzley at (989) 875-3373 for assistance.

The AER is available for you to review electronically by visiting the following web site www.ithacaschools.net or you may review a copy from the high school office.

For 2010-2011, Ithaca Junior-Senior High School did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) because we did not attain target achievement goals for our special education subgroup in reading.  If we do not make AYP for two years in a row, we will be identified for school improvement.  As a school, we are taking several steps to improve our special education subgroups reading scores.  During the 2011-2012 school year we are implementing reading apprenticeship strategies across the curriculum and will use common assessments quarterly to track student progress.  The special education staff will also use STAR data on a monthly basis to track student achievement and to determine which interventions are needed for each student.  Finally, all special education teachers will be trained in EBLI during the 2011-2012 school year.

State law requires that we also report additional information.  The required information is listed below:

1. PROCESS FOR ASSIGNING PUPILS TO THE SCHOOL. Ithaca has only one junior-senior high school building so all students completing 6^th grade are assigned to Ithaca Junior-Senior High School.  New students moving into the district that are in grades 7-12 are also assigned to the junior-senior high school.
2. THE STATUS OF THE 3-5 YEAR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN. An updated school improvement plan was submitted in June of 2011.  The goals are reading, writing, and problem solving.
3. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EACH SPECIALIZED SCHOOL. Ithaca does not have a specialized school.
4. IDENTIFY HOW TO ACCESS A COPY OF THE CORE CURRICULUM, A DESCRIPTION OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION AND AN EXPLANATION OF THE VARIANCES FROM THE STATE’S MODEL.  Ithaca has aligned it’s curriculum to the common core standards for English and math.  We are also aligned to the GLCE’s and HSCE’s as provided by the State of Michigan. 
5. THE AGGREGATE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT RESULTS FOR ANY LOCAL COMPETENCY TESTS OR NATIONALLY NORMED ACHIEVEMENT TESTS.  Ithaca uses the ACT Explore and Plan tests.  To see results go to the high school office and a copy will be provided.
6. IDENTIFY THE NUMBER AND PERCENT OF STUDENTS REPRESENTED BY PARENTS AT PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES. Ithaca holds parent-teacher conferences in the fall.  In the fall of 2010 we had 305 parents attend conferences which represent 48% of all of our parents.
7. FOR HIGH SCHOOLS ONLY ALSO REPORT ON THE FOLLOWING:
1. THE NUMBER AND PERCENT OF POSTSECONDARY ENROLLMENTS (DUAL ENROLLMENT). The junior-senior high school had 3 students dual enrolled for the 2010-2011 school year.  This represents less than 1% of student enrollment.
2. THE NUMBER OF COLLEGE EQUIVALENT COURSES OFFERED (AP/IB). The junior-senior high offered four AP courses for 2010-2011.
3. THE NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS ENROLLED IN COLLEGE EQUIVALENT COURSES (AP/IB). 65 students were enrolled in one or more AP courses.  This represents 10% of student enrollment.
4. THE NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS RECEIVING A SCORE LEADING TO COLLEGE CREDIT. 38 students (58%) earned a score of 3 or higher on the AP exam which qualified for college credit.

The faculty and administration at Ithaca Junior-Senior High School are very proud of our school and our student achievement.  The 2011 MME scores were the highest scores earned of any class in the 5 years that the MME has been used to measure student achievement at the high school level.  When compared to the schools in Gratiot-Isabella RESD Ithaca ranks number one or two in every test category.  As a staff we will continue to strive to meet our student’s needs and continue to show steady improvement in student achievement on both the MEAP/MME.

Sincerely,

Steven Netzley, Principal