Friday, September 18, 2015

Beginning of the Year



On September 8, 2015 Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (JWP) started the new school year.  A total of 621 students entered the school house gate in great anticipation of a new academic year.  Our students were welcomed back by excited staff members committed to providing them with a high quality education.  We are all prepared to empower learning, energize achievement and enhance our school community.

This school year there a some important changes being implemented.  Students in grades 4th through 12th were issued Chromebooks.  Students in these grades will utilize these devices consistently to research and complete homework.  Therefore, they will transport these devices to and from home.  Kindergarten through 3rd grade students have been issued Chromebooks but they will remain in the classroom.  Students in these grades will also use the devices frequently but will not be expected to utilize the devices, applications or Google Drive from home.  

With the addition of Chromebooks throughout our district, it becomes important to utilize the devices to their full potential.  JWP hired a Technology Staff Development and Curriculum Coordinator to assist with the deployment of the devices and to provide ongoing, job embedded, professional development for our staff.  Having the actual devices offered to students is great, but utilizing them to their full potential is absolutely necessary.  As part of this transition, JWP will embrace and encourage the SAMR model which stands for substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition.  We ultimately want to transition our instructional offerings to redefinition.  The additional position will support this movement forward.  To learn more about the SAMR model, please click here.

At the high school, there continues to be a push to implement concurrent enrollment.  What this means is that students will be provided opportunities to take courses that offer college or certification credits.  The advantage of this process is that students can capitalize on free coursework before entering college or the workplace.  JWP will continue to research ways to implement more of these opportunities in the future and hopefully provide them all "in-house".

The elementary has recently added STEM instruction.  STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  STEM supports science and technology improvement in our students.  The ultimate goal is to embrace the creative minds of our students while enhancing skills in the academic areas that make up STEM.  Again, this is a great opportunity for the students that attend JWP Elementary.

In the past, JWP utilized the NWEA-MAP to assess students in various academic areas.  The NWEA-MAP stands for Measures of Academic Performance.  Although these assessments provided our staff with good information, they were limited in functionality.  This year we are transitioning to the FAST assessments which provide our staff with diagnostic information and research based interventions to improve achievement.  This change will have a positive impact on student achievement and instruction.

As you can tell, our district is fully committed to providing students with a high quality, world class education.  We are proud of the work our staff and students do on a daily basis. To stay up to date on district happenings, please utilize the following links:

Twitter @JWPBulldog
Instagram jwpsup
Snapchat - jwpsup

You can also download our app by searching for our district in your device's app store.  If you have questions regarding that, please contact me directly.

With Kindest Regards,
Bill Adams, Superintendent


Wednesday, September 9, 2015

And we're off...




September 8, 2015 marked the start of a new school year for the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Public School District.  At the end of last school year we were projecting to start the year with 590 students.  Fortunately, the district has started with 621 students which is 31 students above our projected enrollment.  This is outstanding news!

Conversations with our students, staff, parents and community members have informed us of the reasoning for our increase in student population.  Stakeholders are excited about our integration of technology to prepare our students for their futures.  They are pleased with our development of curriculum review and implementation.  People are thrilled with our implementation of a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Program at the elementary.  There is a genuine pride in the conversations from all involved.

We are excited to begin the school year.  Our district looks forward to great successes as we work in partnership in providing students with innovative, creative, and effective learning.