Monday: Collaboration Day schedule: All Faculty and Staff Meeting in S-8, 7:45
Bring laptop / e-device please
Tuesday: Regular Day
Wednesday: Regular Day;
Thursday: Regular Day;
Friday: Assembly Day Schedule
Looking at this week: Winter Dress Up Week sponsored by ASB
Monday, Dec. 5: All Faculty and Staff Meeting: 7:45-8:45 in S-8: WASC Check in and whole group discussion. All offices closed so we can talk together as a staff. An Agenda was shared on Friday....
The West Hills High School Foundation is proud to sponsor alumni Dat Phan (Class of 1993) in our theater on Saturday, January 21, 2017 for a benefit for our West Hills facilities fund! Come see Dat Phan and his comedy along with current WHHS Performing Arts students and selected other performers. All proceeds benefit WHHS!
Faculty and staff Winter Luncheon: Tuesday, December 20 starting at 12:30 in the Foyer sponsored by the WHHS Foundation. Take a break after students have left to enjoy food and fellowship as a faculty!
CORRECTION: Our Academic League is going up against SANTANA for the "Mayor's Cup" this Wednesday, December 7 in S-8 starting at 3:30. J.V. remains UNDEFEATED with 5 wins and 0 losses--VARSITY is playing well with a 3-2 record. CHEER on these students as they compete against Santana this week! (Not all participants are pictured....)
INNOVATION and DESIGN: WHHS now has access to the Sphero SPRK+...check them out through April Baker in the VP's office
Designed to inspire curiosity, creativity, and invention through connected play and coding, SPRK+ is far more than just a robot. Powered by the Lightning Lab app, you can easily learn programming, complete hands-on activities, and share your creations with the community. Navigate a maze. Program a painting. Mimic the solar system. Swim across the water. Have a dance party… The only limit is your imagination.
SPRK+ and Lightning Lab allow you to collaborate with other users around the globe to innovate the world of education and empower anyone to program. Equipped with Bluetooth SMART and a strong scratch-resistant UV coating, SPRK+ takes hands-on learning up a notch. Join the growing community of makers, students, instructors, and parents – all learning on the same social platform. SPRK+ will foster a love of robotics, coding, and STEAM principles… all through play. Learning is evolving. Get on the ball.
On Monday, December 5 we have our next ALL FACULTY and STAFF meeting time in S-8 from 7:45-8:45. We will be checking in with all the Focus Group Discussions and having an opportunity to talk as a whole large group. One of the areas we have been engaging with since I returned in January 2015 is the vision, mission, and values of WHHS. We have continuously, since our founding, been a school of excellence, exemplified by our "West Hills Way" Student Senate last year confirmed their support of this simple but effective statement. Part of our continuous improvement discussions include moving from our Essential School Wide Learner Results or ESLRS to Student Learner Outcomes (SLOs) in the new WASC parlance. The focus is on "What can West Hills students do with their learning and how are we able to see that in our outcomes?" Part of this has to be College and Career Readiness. This articlemakes it clear that preparing students for college is essential. And what else? Given the new Local Control Accountability Plan with the state 8 priorities:
Priority #1--Appropriately assigned teachers; access to curriculum-aligned instructional materials; and safe, clean, and functional school facilities
Priority #2--Implementation of state academic standards
Priority #3--Parent engagement
Priority #4--Progress of English learners toward English proficiency
Priority #5--High school graduation rates (maybe...chronic absenteeism in future)
Priority #6--Suspension rates (also a local indicator)
Priority #7 & #8--College/Career Indicator (CCI), which combines Grade 11 test scores on English Language Arts and Math (and future Science assessment covering NGSS), and other measures of college and career readiness (possibly SAT / ACT scores; CTE Pathway Completion with certifications; College entrance rates to both 2 year and 4 year colleges etc)
and how we will be evaluated as a school, we need to be mindful of DATA. We will be demonstrating the access to data we have and the work Matt Norris and others have put into making our data accessible and readable by all. Looking forward to the conversations....
p.s. Here are some examples of Student Learner Outcomes (not based on quality necessarily but a variety of formats):
Mark Keppel High School, Alhambra, CA
San Marino High School, San Marino, CA
Allan F. Daily High School, Glendale, CA
Banning High School, Wilmington, CA
