By Sue Moore
Vicksburg Middle School Principal Matt VanDussen and Assistant Principal Dennis Kirby presented data to show outstanding performance in math, social studies and science when compared to nearby schools of similar size. February is designated for the Vicksburg Middle School to host the monthly school board meeting to report on the progress made during the first half of the year.
“We are building a collaborative culture in the middle school,” VanDussen said. “We have student intervention teams where all the teachers for one student get together to help if the need arises. The goal is to maximize the success for every single student. We do this with data management, collection, analysis and then focus on the results with data review days.”
“We only have three years to figure this out for kids. Our job is to try and get them on track and keep them there. We look at it as the K-12 whole, while ensuring that all students learn while in our domain. We hang our hat on this, from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning each day,” VanDussen told the board. “We have a multi-tiered system of supports that includes homework club, extended learning opportunity classes, with tutorial the most important.”
He presented a slide show of graphs and test scores to show how Vicksburg Middle School compares on the M-Step test and how students collectively are doing compared to other schools in the state, especially in the Student Growth Percentile. This measures the individual student’s and teacher’s performance in math, English Language Arts, science and social studies.
All the data VanDussen reported can be found on the Parent Dashboard that all parents can access.