October 21, 2009

Newton schools receive 51 Standard of Excellence Awards

The Kansas Department of Education has announced the annual Standard of Excellence Awards, based on student performance on the spring 2009 state assessments. Newton Public Schools garnered a total of 51 Standards of Excellence in the 2008-09 school year. This represents an increase over the 2007-08 school year, when Newton schools received 44 awards.

Newton USD 373 has seen an increase in the number of Standard of Excellence Awards every year since the awards began in 2003. This, in spite of the fact that proficiency rates required to meet Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) have increased each year under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. For 2008-09, 76.7% of students in the district had to test proficient in reading and 70.5% of students had to test proficient in math in order to make AYP. All schools are expected to reach 100% proficiency in reading and math by 2014 under current NCLB requirements.

The district earned 24 Standard of Excellence awards for reading, 24 in math, two in science and one in writing. All five elementary schools, both middle schools and the high school each received at least one Standard of Excellence, with some schools receiving as many as nine.

As AYP targets rise and school funding continues to shrink, districts find themselves facing a growing challenge in trying to address the needs of all students, especially those who are considered at-risk. Students with special needs, those from low-income households, minorities and children for whom English is not their primary language, require intensive tutoring and extra instructional support to attain subject proficiency. Newton teachers did an outstanding job of working with these students this past year and, as a result, all subgroups made significant gains in reading and math scores compared to the previous year.

"Given our rather dramatic change in demographics during the past several years, it is particularly affirming of the efforts of our staff and building and district leaders, as well as the board of education, that our schools are being recognized with a record number of Standards of Excellence,” said Dr. John Morton, District Superintendent. “The awards are certainly testimony to the district's dedication to make sure that no child is left behind and that our primary focus centers on teaching and learning."

The number of students receiving free and reduced lunches in the district has risen to 53% for the 2009-10 school year, the first year that more than half of all students qualify for the program. The number of students enrolled in English Language Learner classes has also increased, reaching a high of 8.2% for 2009-10. This, combined with projections of additional school funding cuts mid-year, suggests even more challenges for our schools, teachers and students in the months and years to come.

The district will celebrate the state Standard of Excellence Awards at an upcoming school board meeting.

October 21, 2009

Conley receives theatre conference grant

CCassandra Conley, theatre educator at Newton High School, is one of three recipients of a 2009 Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) Annual Conference Grant for New Educators.

The EdTA Annual Conference provides theatre educators with relevant programming including workshops, opportunities to earn continuing education units and graduate-level credit, as well as the chance to network with fellow educators. This year’s event, held in conjunction with the California Educational Theatre Association (CETA), took place September 10-13 at the Anaheim (California) Marriott and the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort.

Ms. Conley is the director of Newton High School’s Thespian troupe 47, which is a part of EdTA’s student honorary, the International Thespian Society (ITS).

“Theatre educators are just as passionate about learning as they are about teaching,” says Diane Carr, manager of the EdTA Annual Conference and grant administrator. “They know that improving and renewing themselves enables them to give even more to their students. We are happy to have been able to offer this opportunity to Cassandra, giving her access to an event that will contribute to her growth as a professional.”

In addition to Ms. Conley, the 2009 Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) Annual Conference Grant for New Educators was awarded to Katie Alpert, theatre educator at Woodburn (Oregon) Arts and Communications Academy, and Chelsea Cunningham, theatre educator at Hoover High School in Des Moines, Iowa.

The 2009 EdTA Annual Conference was sponsored in part by Dolphin Entertainment, Savannah College of Art and Design, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, and The Broadway League.

About the Educational Theatre Association

The Educational Theatre Association, as the pre-eminent professional association for theatre arts education, shapes lives by sharing ideas and supporting efforts to have theatre arts education (including film, television, and other related media) recognized in all phases of education and lifelong learning. Our members are a network of theatre arts educators, students, professionals, and enthusiasts. EdTA operates the International Thespian Society (ITS), an honorary organization for middle school and high school theatre students. The organization also publishes Dramatics, a monthly magazine for high school theatre students, and Teaching Theatre, a quarterly journal for theatre education professionals.

About the International Thespian Society

The International Thespian Society (ITS) is an honorary organization for high school and middle school theatre students located at more than 3,900 affiliated secondary schools across America, Canada, and abroad. The mission of ITS is to honor student achievement in the theatre arts. Thespian high school inductees are known as “Thespians” and junior high/middle school inductees are known as “Junior Thespians.” ITS is a division of the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA).

October 21, 2009

Rangel attends state BEA convention, receives first place

The Kansas Business Education Association’s annual two-day convention convened on Thursday, October 15, at the Olive Garvey Business and Technology Building at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas. Local business teachers in attendance included Melinda Rangel, Newton High School.

At Thursday’s session, business and technology teachers from across the state attended hands-on training sessions in subjects such as iMovie, iDVD, InDesign, Vegas Movie Studio 9, Career Clusters, Illustrator, Quickbooks and new technologies promoting student interaction. Friday’s opening session at the Wichita Airport Hilton featured keynote speaker, Debbie Silver. Afterwards, breakout sessions provided opportunities for teachers to increase their knowledge base in the areas of digital media, blogging, The Money Circle, and Issues in Business Education.

The Kansas Business Education Association is made up of business and technology teachers from over 120 colleges, universities, technical schools, high schools, and middle schools in the state of Kansas. It is the goal of the Kansas Business Education Association to promote and facilitate programs and activities within the state of Kansas designed to assist all business teachers with professional growth.

 Business teachers are encouraged to submit a new and innovative lesson plan to share with other teachers across the state. Entries are judged and the top three announced at the state conference. Melinda Rangel won first place with her lesson plan on using the Kansas Career Pipeline for career assessment.

October 14, 2009

Newton Students Recognized by National Merit Scholarship Corporation

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced that three Newton High School students have qualified for recognition in the 2010 National Merit Scholarship Program.

Megan Leary has been named a National Merit semi-finalist, and Ben Kreider and Andrew J. Walker have both been named commended students.

More than 1.5 million juniors in 22,000 high schools entered the National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of the program entrants.

Leary is one of 16,000 semi-finalists, who will vie for the finalist designation and a share in some 8,200 National Merit Scholarships, worth more than $36 million, that will be offered next spring. About 90% of the semi-finalists are expected to attain finalist standing and approximately half of the finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship.

Although Kreider and Walker are now out of the running for the National Merit Scholarships, the commended student designation should expand their educational opportunities and enhance their ability to acquire other scholarships.

Established in 1955, NMSC is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 500 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

October 14, 2009

The Power of a Penny

Can a penny bring peace? Fifth grade students at Sunset Elementary are hoping to find out: they have joined with Pennies for Peace, a campaign that strives to help educate children in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to a press release from the program, a penny can buy a pencil, start an education, and transform a life. In a region where terrorist organizations recruit uneducated, illiterate children, that pencil can empower a child to read, write, and learn.

The Pennies for Peace program goal is to encourage children, who are ultimately our future leaders, to learn the value of philanthropy by collecting pennies for global peace. In addition to collecting pennies, Karen McCabe-Juhnke, a 5th grade teacher at Sunset, says the students are learning about the cultures and geography of the two countries. The classes are reading the book “Three Cups of Tea,” by Greg Mortenson, founder of Pennies for Peace.

To kick off the Sunset campaign, 5th grade students watched a video about the program and sampled chai tea. For more information on the Pennies for Peace program, visit www.ikat.org or contact Karen McCabe-Juhnke at Sunset.

Photo: Sunset 5th grade student Justin Funk displays the jar he and his classmates are using to collect coins for Pennies for Peace, a program that promotes education in remote mountain regions of Central Asia. Enjoying chai tea with Funk are Landon Moore, Keri Fryhover, Jeremy Kinney and Emily Anderson.

October 7, 2009

Read for the Record

Join with Dr. John Morton and others around the world on Thursday morning to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Help set a world record with over 1 million teachers, students and others around the world. The event is sponsored by JumpStart in cooperation with the Pearson Foundation. For more details visit Readfortherecord.com or

October 6, 2009

Body Venture exhibit travels to South Breeze

Students at South Breeze Elementary got the chance to navigate through a large "human body" recently when the Body Venture exhibit was set up in the school's gymnasium. The 50 ft. long exhibit, sponsored by the Kansas Department of Education travels across the state educating students on good nutrition and health. Groups of students tour the exhibit's mouth, stomach, heart and other areas of the body, actively participating at each station while learning about the different functions and ways to keep their bodies healthy.

Photo: South Breeze Parent Volunteer Sarah Fleming helps Calvin Becker & Ethan Wilson floss between two large teeth inside the mouth of the Body Venture exhibit as their teacher, Nancy Schlup looks on. The traveling exhibit takes students "inside" the large body replica to learn about health and nutrition.