Newsletter
by Jeff Travis
January 23, 2012
January 25, 2012
Greeting to all Parents and Patrons:
Second semester is off and running. The faculty and students are working hard to get ready for the state assessments that will be given in the spring. The state assessments have become high stake tests. How a district is viewed by the state department and other districts throughout the state is by the success or lack of success that is achieved on the state assessment tests. The Waconda district has been a leader across the state of Kansas and across the Nation by achieving high scores on these tests in the past. As a district, we want to continue being leaders in this category. It is so important that we as faculty and you as parents let our students know how proud of them we are, and how we want them to continue to set the bar on these tests across the state.
The sixth annual Governor’s Achievement Awards, honoring top performing schools in the state were recently announced. Specifications for the program are as follows:
- The school must have achieved the Standard of Excellence in both reading and mathematics for 2011.
- The school must have made Adequate Yearly Progress in both reading and mathematics and one additional measure in 2010 (examples are attendance and graduation rate).
- The school must have been among schools in the top 5% in both reading and mathematics on the 2011 state assessments at its respective level (elementary school, middle/junior high school, high school).
Forty-three elementary schools, eleven middle/junior high schools, and eighteen high schools qualified for this prestigious award.
It is my pleasure to announce that our district has received three governor’s awards. USD 272 received the awards in the Intermediate School, the Lakeside Elementary School at Downs, and Tipton Community School. This truly is an amazing accomplishment for our district. USD 272 actually received 4.2% of the awards given across the state of Kansas. Our students at USD 272 make up 1/100th percent of the total student population in Kansas accredited schools, but they won 4% of this prestigious state academic award. Everyone should be proud of these accomplishments.
Thank you,
Jeff Travis
Superintendent, USD 272
