Proud of JWP Students and Staff

Student Scholarships and Awards

This year we have experienced outstanding success with our students receiving scholarships and awards.  One of the highest honors to be received, the National Merit Scholarship, was awarded to Lauren Summers as she is JWP's first recipient of this prestigious award since 1997.  In addition to that award, JWP seniors will have earned over $200,000 in scholarships this school year.  Congratulations JWP seniors!

Graduation - 2014

On Friday, May 23, we had 35 students graduate from the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Public School District.  As a District we are confident these students have been provided with exceptional opportunities to prepare them for post secondary education or the workforce.  We are very proud of our graduates and wish them nothing but the best of luck in the future.  

Proud of our Staff!

This school year our staff members took on Professional Learning Communities, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, and two new curricula on top of the extensive work they do on a daily basis.  Preliminary data shows that their work this year had a positive impact on student achievement as per NWEA-MAP and MCA data.  We could not be more proud of our staff for their unswerving commitment to doing what is best for students on our continuous quest in improving learning for all.  Should you encounter a member of the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton staff, please thank them for the work they do each and every day to positively impact the children of our three great communities.
Enrollment

The Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Public School District expects to see an increase to enrollment next school year.  This year our District had 585 students enrolled in grades K-12.  Next year we expect an enrollment of 610 students in that same grade span.  That is an increase of 25 students.  This growth can be attributed to a larger incoming kindergarten class, the addition of Trinity Lutheran School students to our 9th grade class, move ins, and students returning from open enrollment.  We are happy to share this exciting news as increasing enrollment is a thing to celebrate! 

Cafeteria and Building Security Project

This project continues to move forward.  We received official approval from the Minnesota Department of Education in April.  The bidding process is complete and at this time we are awaiting approval on building permits.  We are hopeful things will progress at a steady pace so that the project can begin.  It is our hope that our secured entrance and new kitchen are completed by December.

Strategic Plan Update

During the 2012-2013 school year our district worked diligently to create a strategic plan.  The reason for that work was to create a clear vision for our district and track our progress to ensure organizational improvement.  In January, the school board engaged in a board retreat to begin planning for the 2014-2015 school year.  The board was also updated on the progress of the approved strategic plan. 

Our strategic plan consists of five vision cards:

Vision Card A: Raise Achievement; Close the Gap and Prepare Students for Their Futures

Vision Card B: Align Core Process of Learning and Best Practices in Teaching Through Collaborative Teaming

Vision Card C: Develop Partnerships to Engage Faculty, Family and Community

Vision Card D: Effectively Manage Human, Financial and Physical Resources

Vision Card E: Establish Trust Through Transparency

Within each vision card we have five levels of attainment:

Level 1 – Intervention

Level 2 – High Concern

Level 3 – Baseline

Level 4 – Progressing

Level 5 – Vision

Results:

Vision Card A – 60% of our goals were at baseline or above.

Vision Card B – 67% of our goals were at baseline or above.

Vision Card C – 100% of our goals were at baseline or above.

Vision Card D – 100% of our goals were at baseline or above.

Vision Card E – 67% of our goals were at baseline or above.

We are pleased with the progress in meeting our district’s vision.  The board made some adjustments to language in the strategic plan and also raised the bar in certain areas.  The Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton school board, staff, students, parents and communities are committed to continuous improvement.  We will continue to adjust our practice until our vision is met within each Vision Card.  Should you be interested in reviewing our strategic plan, please feel free to contact me directly. 

Our mission:

“Our district will empower learning, energize achievement and enhance community.  Excellence without excuse!”

As always, if you ever have any questions, please feel free to stop in, call or e-mail. 

Toys for Tots

We have always believed that the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton School District is a place full of outstanding individuals committed to civic leadership.  This school year we competed in a Valley Conference competition in raising Toys for Tots donations. 

Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (JWP), St. Clair and Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial (LCWM) chose to compete this school year.  Today (12/19/13) all three schools went to Mankato to deliver the donations each district collected.  In the end JWP won the competition.  The point totals (rounded) from each district is notated below:

LCWM - 700 points
St. Clair - 2400 points
JWP - 2500 points

The JWP School Community contributed roughly $3,000 in cash donations to Toys for Tots and over 1,000 toys.  Please be proud of the impact you all have made on our local and national efforts.  JWP's work will put several smiles on the faces of children throughout the local, state and national levels.  We couldn't be more proud of our District.  We are simply humbled by your efforts.  Thank you for making our district a great place to live, learn and teach.  Simply put, you are amazing!

10,000 Hours of Practice

In my days as an assistant wrestling coach we used to tell our wrestlers that they needed to practice a move 10,000 times before it would become part of their muscle memory.  In essence, practicing the move 10,000 times would increase a wrestler's ability on the mat.  However, after reading the book, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I found that my old way of communicating that message was a bit flawed.

Gladwell states that research supports it takes 10,000 hours of practice before one can become an 'expert'.  In his book he talks about three specific examples of this theory.  Bill Joy, Bill Gates and the Beatles.  In each case, these folks engaged in their area of expertise for 10,000 hours before they reached the pinnacle of their early careers.

So how does this relate to education.  Students spend roughly seven hours per day in classroom instruction for 174 days.  7 hours x 174 days x 13 years = 15,834 hours of instruction.  However, the example relates directly to practice not necessarily seat time.  Therefore, we need to begin shifting our attention to finding ways for students to 'practice' or 'apply' their learning to engage the 'expert' status.

Although this blog entry will not solve the gaps in student learning, I hope for it to start a conversation. 

Technology is Evolving in Education

From December 14th to December 17th I will be attending the TIES Conference in Minneapolis.  This conference is focused on the potential use of technology in today's classroom.  I have just completed the first day of this conference and the sessions I attended involved the use of Evernote and Twitter in K-12 classrooms. 

Evernote is managed by the cloud.  Students and teachers can utilize Evernote to eliminate paper, increase engagement, and enhance achievement.  There are many features in Evernote that can be tapped to move our educational capacity forward.  As the JWP School District continues its journey to engage the student population through technology, Evernote will be a strong contributor.

Twitter is a social media platform that many utilize in a variety of ways.  Although Twitter has received negative attention, it can actually provide a positive influence on the education of our students.  Please click on the following link to learn more about the use of Twitter in the K12 classroom: http://fluency21.com/blog/2013/02/19/60-inspiring-examples-of-twitter-in-the-classroom/

While I attended the conference I overheard educators talk about the ability our youth have with technology.  After listening to the dialogue, I came to the conclusion that educators need to begin discovering new social media tools prior to our students discovering them.  Right now, Facebook and Twitter are almost a foregone tool for teenagers.  Our students are now moving onto Instagram and Snapchat from Facebook and Twitter.  A reflective question we need to begin answering is the following:

What can we do as educators to discover the next best thing for our young learners and begin including it into our instruction? 

Although we are all comfortable with the tradition of education, we need to begin adapting our practice to meet the needs of the new learner.  This is a call for all to embark on the challenge of evolving education!

With Regards,
Bill Adams, JWP Superintendent

Board Meeting Agendas/Minutes Made Easy

As a school district we continue to look for ways to enhance communication with our public.  Last school year I went through a webinar with BoardBooks, which is an internet based board meeting framework.  After the webinar it became quite clear how beneficial this framework would be for our three communities to stay abreast of District happenings. 

In October we adopted the BoardBook framework and will be utilizing it going forward.  On this site, the public will be able to view detailed agendas with attached documents that relate to each item to be covered.  In the past, we were only able to post an agenda, which left out important details.  Although our previous format served it's purpose, this new framework provides much more information for our community members.

I strongly encourage our communities to check out our BoardBook site to stay informed with what is taking place in our school district.  If you have any troubles viewing or navigating the site, please send me an e-mail or give me a phone call.  The site can be accessed via the link or web-path below:

1.  https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicHome.aspx?ak=1001026
2. Web-path
    a. Go to 'www.jwp.k12.mn.us'
    b. Click on 'District Information'
    c. Click on 'School Board'
    d. Click on New - 'Agendas and Minutes'

With Regards,
Bill Adams, Superintendent
adamsb@jwp.k12.mn.us
507.234.5181 Ext. 5

Progress Realized

Greetings Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Students, Families & Others:

The first month of the school year was a great success.  Our students transitioned into their routines for the school year and adjusted well to their new schedules and teachers.  JWP staff also familiarized themselves to their new schedules and students.

This year brings the implementation of Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (PBIS), Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), new math and reading curricula, and a new teacher evaluation system.  As you can glean from that information, our teachers are extremely busy with these new initiatives while continuing to provide high quality instruction.  We are proud of our staff members' dedication to professional improvement!

September was a month filled with adjustment and anticipation.  October will provide our teachers with a bit more comfort throughout the implementation of District initiatives.  We look forward to their continued growth and their direct impact on the improvement of the Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton School District.

With Regards,
Bill Adams, Superintendent