2008-09 Annual Report

2008-09
CONESTOGA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
ANNUAL REPORT CARD
Quality Education
For All Students

MISSION OF CONESTOGA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The mission of the Conestoga Public Schools is:
"To Provide a Quality Education to Prepare All Learners to be Contributing Members of Society.”

Conestoga Public Schools has utilized the Nebraska Continuous Improvement Model as an on going approach to school improvement. Kindergarten through 12th grade teams, representing each building, have taken a comprehensive look at the educational process at the Conestoga schools.

GOVERNING VALUES/BELIEFS
The mission of the Conestoga Public schools is based upon the belief that:

• All students can learn
• A safe environment is essential to learning.
• Learning is most effective in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust.
• Students need to be responsible for, and be actively involved in their learning.
• Learning is a cooperative effort among the home, school, community, and the learner.
• Learning is lifelong.
• All students live in a diverse and interdependent world.

To successfully carry out the mission of the Conestoga Public Schools, parameters that will enable the mission and beliefs to grow were identified. In order to accomplish our mission:

• All employees will approach tasks with a positive attitude.
• Educational goals will be developed with the input of students, staff, parents, and community.
• Only programs with supportive research, proven best practice, proper staff training, and on-going evaluation will be implemented.
• Effective instructional skills will be demonstrated by all staff.
• Adequate facilities, supplies, and equipment must be provided for use by students, staff and all patrons.
• An analysis of cost effectiveness will be undertaken before expending any financial resources.
• Excuses for not learning are not acceptable.

This publication contains information reflecting the 2008-09 school year. The publishing of an annual report allows the Conestoga Public Schools to meet Nebraska Department of Education, Rule 10 category 010.01A. More importantly, it provides an opportunity to share information with the school-community and others interested in the local school. Data from school districts across the state can be found at the Nebraska Department of Education website.

CONESTOGA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The Conestoga School District (#56) comprises approximately 198 square miles in Cass and Otoe Counties. The district is made up of the communities of Nehawka, Murray, Beaver Lake, Lake WaConDa, and the surrounding rural areas. The district is organized as a K-12 educational program with the K-6 Building located in Murray and the 7-12 Building located 2.5 miles west of Murray on Highway #1.

Conestoga is classified as a Class III (K-12) district by the Nebraska Department of Education and a Class C1 school by the Nebraska School Activities Association. The North Central Association, which serves an 18-state region of schools and colleges, has recognized the elementary, junior high school and secondary programs for meeting high quality educational standards and has accredited all grade levels. Conestoga is a member of the East Central Nebraska Conference; member schools include East Butler, Elmwood-Murdock, Johnson County Central, Louisville, Malcolm, Mead, Palmyra, Weeping Water and Yutan.

The Conestoga School District is governed by a six-member board of education. The Board meets at the elementary building in Murray the second Tuesday of the month. The meetings start at 7:00 PM unless otherwise advertised. 2009-10 members of the Board of Education are: President Gary Todd, Vice-President Jeff Stanley, Secretary Pat Neu, Treasurer Dean Nickels, Scott Moore and Linda Rice.

The Conestoga Public Schools Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization that operates separately but as an extension of the schools. The Conestoga Board of Education serves as the Foundation Trustees. The Foundation was formed to provide for acceptance of tax-deductible donations from interested supporters of education. Donations in the form of cash and equipment have been provided as memorials and contributions since the Foundation was formed in 1989. Each year the Foundation awards scholarships to graduating seniors from the Conestoga Schools to further their education. The Foundation offers mini-grants to classroom teachers for special projects that provide additional learning experiences for students.

Attendance

The attendance rate shows the total number of days students are actually in school compared to the number of days they should be in school. The attendance rate is the average daily enrollment/membership divided into the average daily attendance.
Nebraska attendance rate of 94.84%
Conestoga attendance rate is 95.14%

Free and Reduced-Priced Meals
38.35 % of Nebraska students are eligible for free and reduced-priced meals.
Conestoga has 22.52% of the students using the free and reduced-priced meals.  Based on pre-kindergarten through 12th grade fall enrollment.

Special Education – 15.21% of school-aged children received special education services in Nebraska.
Conestoga Public Schools has 19.59% of all students that are receiving some form of special education services.

Graduation Rate
Nebraska's graduation rate of 89.86% of students that graduate in four years. This figure included all students transferring in and out of districts.
Conestoga High School graduation rate is 97.73% (49 students)

Student Demographics Enrollment Comparisons October

Improvement Goals provided by the school district for 2008-09

Student Performance Goal 1: All students will improve Writing Skills.

Upon our visit with the external team in May of 2005, it was recommended to focus on one academic goal. We decided to begin writing curriculum in the Language Arts department focusing on writing using the Curriculum Leadership Institute (CLI) guidelines. We trained administrators and Curriculum Instruction Assessment Committee (CIAC) members. The Language Area Subject Area Committee (SAC) met several days throughout the school year to align the K-12 curriculum with standards and assessments. During the 2006-07 school year, the same committee continued the process with reading. In 2007-08 the committee aligned our math standards and revised our assessments.  In 2008-09 we sought approval for district accreditation and received the go ahead from the visitation team at the readiness visit to advance.

Grades 3-6 Performance on Standardized Math Test  

Grades 5-8 Performance on Standardized Math Test 

Grades 9-12 Performance on Standardized Math Test 

*Data has been masked to protect the identity of students using the following criteria:

1. Fewer than 10 students were reported in the grade or standard.
2. All students were reported in a category that does not meet the standards.

Grades 3-6 Performance on Standardized Reading Test 

Grades 5-8 Performance on Standardized Reading Test Years

Grades 9-12 Performance on Standardized Reading Test 

American College Test Information

Assessment of State Mathematics Standards
Overall Performance percentages for All Students Meeting or Exceeding Standards

Assessment of State Reading Standards
Overall Performance Percentages for All Students Meeting or Exceeding Standards

Assessment of State Writing Standards
Overall Performance Percentages for All Students Meeting or Exceeding Standards

% of Change: Compares the percentage of students proficient on the first state writing assessment to the current year’s results. 

Assessment of State Science Standards
Overall Performance Percentages for Students Meeting or Exceeding Standards

Beginning in 2007-08 school year, data were collected at the student level. 
% of Change:  Compares the percentage of students proficient on the first state assessment to the current year's results.

Federal Accountability

Two consecutive years of not meeting the state goals in the same subject area considering all the eligible groups in all grade levels in the district identifies it as being in need of improvement.  Small schools with no groups of 30 must receive Good, Very Good or Exemplary decisions on both the quality of their assessments and the performance of students on standards.
To meet federal accountability requirements, school districts and buildings with 30 or more students in any of nine groups must meet the following federal accountability goals.

• Reading Performance:  81 percent of elementary students, 81 percent of middle school students and 83 percent of high school students scoring proficient on state standards.
• Reading Participation:  At least 95 percent of the students must have been assessed in reading.
• Mathematics performance:  83 percent of elementary students, 79 percent of middle school students and 81 percent of high school students scoring proficient on state standards.
• Mathematics Participation:  At least 95 percent of the students must have been assessed in mathematics.
• Other Academic Indicator, Writing:  The other academic indicator for elementary and middle school:  62 percent of elementary students and 61 percent of middle school students scoring proficient on statewide writing assessments.
• Other Academic Indicator, Graduation Rate:  the other academic indicator for high school:  high school graduation rate of 83.97 percent.

Assessment Quality:  Quality of assessments must be rated Good, Very Good or Exemplary

• 2007-08 Federal Accountability (AYP); Conestoga Elementary, Not Met; Conestoga Middle School, Met; Conestoga High School, Met.
• 2008-09 Federal Accountability (AYP):  Conestoga Elementary, Met, Conestoga middle School, Met; Conestoga High School, Met.
• 2008-09 AYP Status Decision for Consecutive Years of Progress:  Conestoga Elementary, Not Met, Improvement Shown; Conestoga Middle School, Met; Conestoga High School, Met.

Student performance:  Reading and Math

    ~    To be included for AYP determinations, a group must have at least 30 students.

• Data was masked to protect the identity of students using one of the following criteria:
  1.  Fewer than 10 students were reported in the grade or standard.
  2.  All students were reported in a single performance category.
  

NCLB Qualified Teachers 2007-08

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires all teachers, teaching in the content areas it identifies as core academic areas, to demonstrate that they have sufficient content knowledge in that subject. Teachers in Nebraska met this requirement by holding the appropriate endorsement for the courses/classes taught or by successfully completing the HOUSSE process. The chart below provides the number and percentage of courses taught by NCLB Qualified Teachers in each of the NCLB content areas.

*for NCLB purposes, one elementary teacher is considered as one course.

Nebraska’s emergency teaching certificate is the Provisional Commitment Certificate. In 08-09, there were no teachers in this district teaching on this certificate.

NCLB established a goal of having 100% of all teachers in NCLB content areas. Districts must annually measure the progress of each school and the district toward meeting this goal. NCLB Qualified Teacher data presented includes Special Education teachers.

Teacher Salaries

Conestoga Public Schools teachers earned between $28,100 and $51,671 based on teacher experience, college degrees, and extra duty assignments. 2009-10 salary range is $29,100 and %55,581.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

State Aid History

History of Levies and Valuations

Additional information on the State Report Card can be obtained on the Nebraska Department of Education web site at www.nde.state.ne.us

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