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Great Things are Happening

Great Things are Happening. AT RAVENSWOOD. Great things happening at Ravenswood!. 7 New staff members last year and 5 more this year, which gives us a great mix of experience levels Expanded Fine Arts Department

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Great Things are Happening

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  1. Great Things are Happening AT RAVENSWOOD

  2. Great things happening at Ravenswood! • 7 New staff members last year and 5 more this year, which gives us a great mix of experience levels • Expanded Fine Arts Department • An algebra class for our 8th graders which will allow students to get high school credit in 8th grade • More enrichments for our students/ addition of exploratory classes? • Daily common planning time for our teacher teams • 75 minutes/wk for on-going staff development on inquiry • Teacher cohorts are meeting regularly • Curriculum mapping is underway in our core subjects

  3. Great things happening at Ravenswood! • 3 classroom sets of I-Pads for our classrooms with the focus of continuing to add to this number • ST Math (Jiji) – a supplemental computer-based math program that allows our students to work at their own pace. • We are moving to focusing on an interdisciplinary approach to teaching using the inquiry model and our staff is really excited about this. • We are adding many additional texts/magazines for our students to engage in the inquiry process.

  4. Great things happening at Ravenswood! • Computer lab computers have been rebuilt and the old computers will go into classrooms • 30 Additional refurbished computers will be here by the beginning of the 2012 school year to put into classrooms for research stations for students. • Several capitol improvement projects have begun and will continue through this year and next year. • Ravenswood was in the top 5 “most improved” schools with growth trends on our MAP data this past year.

  5. Discretionary Funds Over Time AS OUR SOCIO-ECONOMICS SHIFT, WE LOSE OUR DISCRETIONARY FUNDS. NOT ONLY HAVE OUR DISCRETIONARY FUNDS BEEN CUT BY OVER 40% IN THE LAST 4 YEARS, OUR MONEY FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION HAS ALSO BEEN SLASHED AS WELL.

  6. What Is The Implication? HOW DO THESE TRENDS GIVE US INFORMATION FOR THE FUTURE?

  7. How will this impact us? • We have more accountability with fewer dollars and resources available. • We are close to the threshold of not receiving any State or Federal dollars to help us fund our school. • Tough decisions will have to be made at our current trend. • We risk losing staff as dollars disappear. • Our school community is needed to help support our school by getting involved.

  8. Every year we pay for full-day kindergarten. • We “buy” as many teachers to reduce class size as we can. • We pay for an additional fine arts position. • We have to set aside funds for our Fine Arts program. • We have school obligations we must pay (Tech EXCL, copy, etc.) Where is our discretionary money going? School Priorities (SIPAAA) Literacy instruction Math instruction Science instruction Fine Arts

  9. A 1.0 teacher salary for the other half of our kindergarten positions. • 2 teacher salaries to reduce class size. • .5 teacher position to make a full time drama position. • .5 teacher position to add a Ravenswood staff music teacher to our arts programming • Tech requirements to be on the CPS network. Specifically… This year our discretionary funds paid for…

  10. .5 music teacher position (FORS has agreed to fund this teacher ≈ $44,000 • Copy contract of $10,000 • Academic Enhancement mandates us to set aside $4000. • $3500 annual licensing fee for ST Math. • Each year the money that the Board gives us for supplies ($3239) runs out so we need additional money to buy supplies for the school. • Sub bucket to cover for Special Ed meetings. (usually about $10,000). • General operating expenses for running the school. • Field trips for our students. • Technology additions (I-Pads, IT work, SMART boards?, School Obligations These are things that each year we must pay for over the course of the school year that currently are not fully funded.

  11. What is the good news? WHAT STRENGTHS DO WE HAVE CURRENTLY AS A SCHOOL AND HOW CAN WE USE THOSE STRENGTHS?

  12. What is the good news? • We have an excellent staff who knows best-practice instruction and is giving your children a fantastic education. • Our growth trends are heading up and we are extremely excited about the future. • Our grade level teams and cohort teams are the strongest I have seen in my time at Ravenswood. • We engage students in over 30 school events per year.

  13. What is the good news? • Teachers are very committed and are going up and beyond their contract hours to help our students. • Our parental involvement is extremely high. • We have strong programming both before and after school. • Our Fine Arts program is recognized by Academic Enhancement as one of the city’s best. • The culture of our school is positive, as is the morale.

  14. Get Involved BE A PART OF THE SUCCESS OF OUR SCHOOL

  15. How can you get involved and help? • Volunteer in your child’s classroom. • Lend skills/talents you may have. • Get involved with a parent organization. • Be a parent chaperone on a field trip. • Participate in our school events. • Run for one of our school organizations. • Come to our LSC meetings and become informed. • Pay your student fees.

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