From the Desk of Mr. York

Budget Cuts

As you may have read over the weekend, the Cobb County School District has announced "spending restrictions" for all schools.  These restrictions have frozen approximately $50,000 allocated to Griffin for the 2008 - 2009 school year.  While limited access to these funds may be available use of any county funding will be limited to "essential instructional materials."

The Griffin staff has already begun taking steps to ensure that these cuts will have as little impact to daily instruction as possible.  We will be working over the next week to develop a plan that will allow us to continue to offer quality instructional programs to all our students.  As more information is available we will post that information on Griffin's web site.

As always, your child's educational progress is our top priority. 

Half Time

As we come to the end of our first semester as a state directed school and   working with the America's Choice model I look around and see exciting things happening at Griffin.  Teachers are working together in collaborative teams more than ever before.  Administrators are more involved as instructional leaders and individual student data is being used to drive instruction.  Griffin is moving from being a 'Needs Improvement' school to being a model school in multiple areas.

 

Over the next few months we will continue to expand the use of the America's Choice model.  We will also be holding our first ever Student Led Conferences.  I look forward to second semester and seeing the continued growth of Griffin.

As always I invite you to visit and see the great things that are happening.  Our PTSA continues to host parent tours on the second Tuesday of every month at 10:00 a.m and I encourage you to stop by and participate in one of those.

 

Principal's Advisory Council

During the 2007-2008 school year Griffin's first Principal's Adviisory Council was formed.  Five students were chosen from those nominated by their teachers to help provide me with a student's perspective of life at Griffin.  This year the council has been expanded to include twelve students chosen from numerous students nominated by the faculty.

Recently I had the opportunity to meet with the Council for the first time.  We had an chance to get to know each other and to establish our goals for the year.  The students developed two goals for themselves:  to address the concerns of their fellow students and to make Griffin a better school.

Council members include:

6th Grade - Jaylin Evans - Jamie Sanders - Christina Suggs - Luis Vela

7th Grade - Allen Hawthorne - Monico Hernandez - Emily Timmons - Hanna Watkins

8th Grade - Souleymane Camara - Kanchi Patel - Vanessa Ramirez-Broome - Sae'von Springer

Congratulations to these outstanding students!

AYP Appeal - Denied

As you may have read, Griffin Middle School appealed our AYP status to the State Department of Education.  This appeal was based on one student who was absent from school for over a month with a medical condition and two students who were out of the country during re-testing.  Unfortunately the appeal was denied.  Griffin's AYP status has then been determined based upon the test scores of one student.

We now put the AYP process behind us and look forward as Griffin continues to grow and improve.  With the implementation of America's Choice, the addition of a Math Coach and Literacy Coach, and the support of a great PTSA Griffin is going to have a great year.  Students are more engaged in class, the curriculum is being taught with more rigor for all learners and assessments are being used to adjust instruction.  Great things are truly happening at Griffin.

I invite you to become, not just involved, but engaged in your child's education.  "How?" you may ask.  Start by having discussions about what students are learning in class.  Your child should be able to share with you the specific standards that they are working on each day.  In addition, stay in contact with your child's teachers.  Homework Hotline, i-Parent, and the student agenda are all means by which you can keep up with your child's progress.

AYP Under Appeal

If you’ve watched the news or read the newspaper this summer then you know that Georgia schools are having a difficult time making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).  Here in Cobb County, the district failed to make AYP by less than 200 students (out of over 108,000).  The struggles continue because of the strict ‘absolute’ model used to measure progress for the federal No Child Left Behind program.

At Griffin things are no different.  We struggle to make AYP however, if you look past the superficial data of AYP you will see that great things are happening at Griffin.  Over the past four years we have continued to increase the number of students making AYP.  Our sub-groups of students have continued to show growth.  During the past school year Griffin made AYP in 16 of 17 categories.  Following the summer re-tests Griffin actually missed making AYP by only one student.  To be more precise, we missed AYP by 2 out of 229,871 questions.

Upon close review of our data it was found that the state has included students in our data that we don’t think should have been included.  The state determines that students are Full Academic Year (FAY) students based on their enrollment.  For the 2007-2008 school year, Griffin had several FAY students with multiple medical conditions.  Some students were absent from school for more than an entire month and yet counted as full-time students.  Based on this data we have appealed our AYP standing to the state.

Within the next few weeks we should know the outcome of the appeal.  Regardless of the state’s response, however, we know that Griffin continues to make great academic gains.  Unfortunately AYP is not measured by growth but rather by an absolute bar.  What we do know is this – Griffin is a better school now than we were last year and we will be a better school at the end of the year than we are now.

We Almost Made It!

As we enter our second month of school, I am so excited about what I am seeing at Griffin.  Last year we made AYP in 16 of 17 categories. For those who are finite numbers folks, our “almost” means that of the 229,871 CRCT questions answered by Griffin students last spring, Griffin missed AYP because of 2 incorrect answers. So close! But that's how No Child Left Behind works.

That’s okay, though.  Through Griffin’s Restructuring Plan our teachers are providing great performance based learning opportunities for our students.  Students are engaged in their learning, teachers are working together and great things are happening at Griffin.

This year we have adopted an instructional model known as America's Choice.  Through this model we are focusing on five critical elements of school improvement.

1. Creating a standards-based system with assessments that monitor progress and inform instruction
2. Aligning instruction to standards and focusing teaching on moving students from where they are to where they need to be
3. Strengthening instructional leadership
4. Building professional learning communities
5. Engaging parents and the community

Through a special federal grant the Georgia Department of Education we are also providing additional support and professional learning through curriculum specialists and a state director.

I invite you to become, not just involved, but engaged in your child’s education. “How?” you may ask.  Start by having discussions about what students are learning in class.  Your child should be able to share with you’re the specific standards they are working on each day.  If you every have any questions please feel free to contact your child’s individual teachers.

Restructuring Comes to Griffin

Welcome to the 2008-09 school year! We hope you’ve had a summer full of fun and memories. Now, as we jump into a new school year, we are excited about the great things that will transpire over the next several months. Why? Well, Griffin is on the move! We made AYP in 16 of 17 categories. For those who are finite, numbers folks, our “almost” means that of the 229,871 CRCT questions answered by Griffin students last spring, Griffin missed AYP because of 16 incorrect answers. So close! That’s okay, though.

Our improvements were (and continue to be) many and it is our goal to maximize student achievement, and be one of the schools that leads with the Keys to a World Class School System. Our America’s Choice restructuring plan will help emphasize “Student Performance, Leadership Development, Fiscal Responsibility, and Building Relationships”.

We are all pieces of the puzzle; it takes each and everyone of us. So, join in our endeavors! Go Wildcats!

“Putting all the pieces together, we work together, learn from each other, support one another and therefore accomplish more.”

America's Choice is Griffin's Choice

Dear Griffin Family,

I wanted to take a moment to let you know of some of the 'next steps' that Griffin is taking as we continue to strive to meet the needs of our learners.  As you know, Griffin has shown academic growth in the past few years but has remained a Corrective Action School. Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), a school under corrective action for 4 years must begin to plan for restructuring.  We are now starting that process.

At this point we are planning to adopt a school design model known as America's Choice as part of our restructuring plan. America's Choice is a comprehensive, coherent, research-based solution for schools-elementary, K-8, middle, and high-that improves the performance of all students.  We are excited about the resource that model will bring.

We invite you to learn more about America's Choice by visiting their website. In addition you can also refer to our School Improvement Plan posted on the website for more information about the steps we are currently taking to improve our school.