Volume 7, Issue 2

June 2007

ENI Announces New Website

NCLB Cutoffs on the Rise

What type of growth curve did your state select for NCLB?  Will 2007-2008 be a year when the proficiency percentages increase for your state?

At the outset of NCLB, all states were required to present their plans for getting 100% of students to “proficient” by the 2013-2014 schoolyear.  Some states responded by creating relatively steady increments spread over the years of the program—most with plateaus that would be the standard for two or more years before rising to the next level.  Other states created the “hockey-stick” look by assuming lower growth rates in early years and planning for rapid acceleration as the deadline approaches.

As an example, Arizona adopted a plan for elementary Reading and Math that had three plateaus, each lasting three years, with a rapid increase during the final four years.  The 2007-2008 school year represents the first year on the third plateau.  For 3rd and 5th grade Reading and Math, this new plateau increases the percentage of proficient students by 9.3% to 13.3% during the coming year.

If you are interested in reading about the NCLB targets for your state (or for other states), a good resource is the US DOE website where each state plan is stored:  http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html.

Letter from the CEO

As we celebrate the close of the 2006-2007 school year, I have been reflecting on this past year’s successes and how they can inform our plans for the year ahead.  At ENI, this past year showed steady growth in one of our key offerings—instructional coaching.  As far back as 1987, Bruce Joyce and Beverly Showers presented research showing that learners adopt new skills at a rate as high as 90% when coaching follows instruction.  (This is opposed to rates as low as 5% - 10% when new skills are simply described.)

Our partner districts frequently tell us that ENI’s coaching is integral to their improvement.  Our successful delivery of coaching—and training of local district coaches—is possible because ENI employs a highly-trained and personable consulting staff. Superior content knowledge and interpersonal skills are essential to be a successful coach.  The most powerful combination happens when our expert coaches work with the support of district and building administrators and the collaboration of individual teachers.  We can point to widespread cases of increased student achievement in these situations.
  
Thank you to each of you that are making a difference in the lives of our children.  Have a great summer, and we look forward to being there to support you in the coming school year.

Catch ENI at a National Conference, or Tell YOUR OWN Story

Educators frequently rank professional conferences among their top ways to learn about new ideas and innovative programs.  ENI is pleased to have customers frequently selected to present at major state and national shows.  Since our last issue, ENI customers have been notified of a number of upcoming speaking engagements:

• Dr. John Krewer, former superintendent of Red Bank Borough (NJ), will be speaking at the NSBA Technology and Learning conference in October in Dallas.  His presentation on leadership using soft and hard data captured the interest of conference organizers.
• National Staff Development Council has invited representatives from Lorain City Schools (OH), another long-time ENI district, to speak at the annual NSDC meeting this coming December in Dallas.  The district will speak about the role of coaching in their increased student achievement.

ENI has been glad to collaborate with other customers on recent conference speaking proposals for the National Middle Schools Association (NMSA), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), American Association of School Administrators (AASA), and National Title I Conference.  If you are interested in submitting a proposal for state or local conferences, please contact Loren Sucher at 800-443-0544 ext. 277 or lsucher@evansnewton.com.

In Good Company

Some folks believe that a good reflection of a people’s character is the company they keep.  If that can be said of companies as well as individuals, ENI is flattered to be in company with some of the best:

• Earlier this year, ENI announced an expanded partnership with Scantron, recognized as the leader in school scanning solutions.  Scantron reps will offer ENI assessment content and professional development to districts in a number of states.

• ENI recently provided Riverside Publishing with assessment items for state-level end-of-course exams.  Riverside is best known as the publisher of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.

Evans Newton was pleased to recently provide assessment items to Datawise, Inc. These items will give Datawise customers access to additional quality test items.

For more information on these and similar initiatives, contact Loren Sucher at 800-443-0544 ext. 277 or lsucher@evansnewton.com.

Technically Speaking

Pre-slugging check list for Brother scanners:

Check printer prior to printing bubble sheets:

1. Make sure you have enough print counts left to print out the answer sheets for all of your classes
2. Check the drum usage to make sure you have enough toner

To check the print counts and drum usage refer to the Brother User’s Guide.

Print out one answer sheet for a student to check:

1. The correct test has been selected (Test 1; Test 2; Test 3…)
2.  No stray marks are appearing on the answer sheet
3. The answer sheet does not appear to be printing out faded (low toner)

Scanning check list:
Before scanning answer sheets. Look through each stack to make sure they are all facing in the same direction.

Login to the scanning program using your Login ID and Password. Do not login with any other login ID and password you may have been given in the past.

• Scan only 1-2 classes at a time. Stop the scanning process and score the test.
• If for some reason you need to leave the computer, logout of the scanning program and log in when you return. Do not leave the program running if you are going to be away from your desk for a while.
• Be sure to select the correct twain driver when scanning- TW-Brother 8065D and not the WIA-Brother.

What They Say About ENI

What can educators do to ensure reforms get off to the right start and ensure a lasting impact?  ENI’s Professional Development maximizes your reform efforts.  With training at every level, you are able to build a solid foundation for all educators involved.  A few of our many Professional Development offerings are summarized below.  We look forward to helping you with our Professional Development needs.  Contact us today to discuss how our Professional Development can help you.

Administrative Inservice
Covers implementation issues, including managing benchmark assessments and communicating results, alignment results, and staff roles.

Here is some sample feedback from recent participants:

“I will value the support from the TT reps.”

“As a result of this workshop, I will be able to utilize test scores to drive instruction.”

“It was an overall informative session.  I learned how to better use results to impart teacher work and student achievement.”

Initial Alignment Inservice for Teachers
Introduces alignment theory and the district’s alignment results. Teachers receive a hands-on explanation of how to use the Aligned Teaching Unit to plan instruction and roles and expectations for teachers.

“Keep up the great work!  I enjoy sharing ideas with grade level teachers. I also appreciate getting our books organized here instead of at school where time is very limited.”  

Fill the Gaps Inservice
Teachers fill the gaps in the curriculum that are not addressed adequately in the textbook. This inservice helps participants identify resources already available that will fill the gaps and develop lesson strategies for classroom use.

“This activity was very useful, providing exposure to a variety of resources.”

“The collaboration of teachers and hands on practice in finding appropriate materials was great.”

“Very informative.  I enjoyed the sharing of ideas and materials with colleagues.”

New Orleans on the Road to Recovery

The 2006-2007 school year is over, and ENI customer, Lake Forest Elementary Charter School in New Orleans has completed their first full year since the devastation of Katrina. It has been a long road and there are many more schools still rebuilding, but Mardele Early, Principal of Lake Forest Charter School is optimistic about the future.

Lake Forest is a school with a reputation for success, serving its elementary school population with an accelerated rigorous curriculum. In the aftermath of Katrina, ENI donated both TargetStrategies and TargetFundamentals for use at Lake Forest Charter School to help with the recovery process. It was important for students to get back on track quickly and ready for a new school year. With products like these, teachers were able to determine what was known and what needed to be taught for the upcoming year. Due to lost time in the classroom, educators were also concerned about the outcomes students would have on their state tests. Ms. Early knew she had to put a plan in place to give students and teachers the tools they need to be successful. This included alignment of their text books to the state standards. This process was extremely beneficial to the students. Ms. Early is extremely happy with the results of this years assessments. Click here to read feedback from Mardele Early, Principal, Lake Forest Charter School