“These are some of the best test scores I’ve ever seen. Not just in Bloomington, but anywhere.” Dr. Dave Heistad

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“These are some of the best test scores I’ve ever seen. Not just in Bloomington, but anywhere.” Dr. Dave Heistad 

I am very proud of our teachers and students.  They work very hard.  Having been the testing coordinator at our middle school over the past 3 years, I can honestly declare that our kids have beat the odds!  This reaffirmation of accountability reassures us of what we already know:  learning is happening at our school!  I believe this work is directly attributes to our math department focus on Mindset by Carol Dweck and their Mindset Monday curriculum, a strong literacy culture, and relevant, high leverage teaching and learning.

Last year our math and literacy leads developed a few strategies to encourage our students to show what they know and are able to do on the MCA and MAP tests.  In addition to special Mindset mini-lessons, our teachers had parents and staff write encouraging notes during parent-teacher conferences for each student.  We decorated our classroom doors with a “Rock the Test” theme including encouraging reminders and personalization.  Here are some of the photos:

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Valley View Middle School supports a learning culture with strong literacy and numeracy teaching and learning every day.  I am proud to work with these excellent teachers and awesome students!  I know that we can continue beating the odds this year, even with increasing challenges and so many snow days!

 

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This infographic can be found at http://ow.ly/i/41edD